


Team 109: Rejected

by Team109



Series: Team 109 Rejected Chronicles [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Drama, Gen, Government Agencies, Government Conspiracy, Intro, Letters, Mutant Powers, Mutants, POV Multiple, Run-On Sentences, Slow Build, Spies & Secret Agents, Teenage Drama, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 21:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team109/pseuds/Team109
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The life of a secret agent is hard, but it gets even harder after you get publicly humiliated during your TEAM qualification exam and set back to the academy. Instead of going through the entire program again, they were given a second chance. Team 109 was supposed to be the best of the best, but now they're stuck in the suburbs of a Midwestern city, forced to go to high school, and stop the rising extreme activist group, Warriors for Mankind.</p><p>5 teens, different walks of life, one goal- Save the world... well, two goals- Save the world and finish that English essay by Friday.<br/>(Chapter 5 reuploaded on April 21st 2016 - Most recent chapter)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> UNDER CONSTANT REVISION  
> This is a continuous effort amongst 2 to 3 people for a full novel. We started it way back in 2012, and just got back into it 4 years later, so check back often as we COMPLETELY rework story plots and characterization.  
> Please stick with us, this story has so much potential, and will only continue to grow.  
> /27.03.16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewritten 2/21/16

“Dear Reader,

If you are reading this, there must be something wrong with you. Admittedly, that's a little harsh. The very fact that you are reading this means you want to know more. To know the truth about all the crazy, violent, and confusing actions of your specific countries' government.  The truth about Jacquelyn Hueber, Merry Garcia, Morgan Carter, Don Parris, and Desmond Troy. These names are now synonymous with terrorism, death, and secret societies, but I need you to forget about that while you read this. Because it's more than just a secret, it's a... a shadow. A world separate from what the news says, behind the ever piercing light of mainstream fear mongering. It's hard to explain, so I'll simplify for you.

At its core, this is a story of lies. This isn’t some fairy tale or some conspiracy theory. This is the story about the very people who have been labelled the harbingers of death, Team 109. The one hundred and ninth team of agents put together by SPIES, which stands for Security, Protection, Information Extraction, Systemization; a group advertised as a security firm for the rich and powerful. And they do, hirer out teams for the occasional prince or travelling diplomat, but the underbelly of SPIES goes beyond protecting the secrets of those in the 1%. Its main goal goes back decades.

Started in 1963, this subgroup of CIA intervention is lost under layers of red tape, mounds of false leads and subsidiary companies. SPIES’ sends out teams, a collection of agents with specific skills for specific missions outside of the government's’ reach. Lead by  **-REDACTED-** or The Boss-Man as Team 109 called him, SPIES recently started their second wave of teams, bridging out beyond what has been done before then. Before that, teams were made of specialized individuals from various military and federal backgrounds, when a member of the council suggested something different. Children. It’s sounds awful, I know that, but his reasoning wasn’t completely mad.

In the late 80s, the world began to have tremors, faint whispers of info leaking from secret documents and making their way to the newly public internet, and some of these secrets were very disturbing. American government officials were very interested in some of these events but of course had no way to officially investigate said matters without gaining attention from the newly formed United Nations, which had been started in the late forties early fifties after world war 2 and was very interested in the United States’ position on Vietnam and Russia. But, there is a particular subset of individuals in the human population that are overlooked when lips should remain closed, ignored when secrets are whispered just too loudly.

Teenagers. So in the late nineties after finding willing participants, normally runaway teens or young children abandoned or even babies with strange abilities and not the first choice for adoption, the council decided to implement a training program for said young people. It started out with a variety of educational background in the history of politics and espionage, and evolved into weapon training and physical endurance and they were raising soldiers to fight battles that normal adults could not.

That is what Team 109 is, at their core. Children fighting a battle that was never meant to be fought by the unhardened, the young and the innocent. And the battle they fought, was… bigger and meaner and more dangerous than we ever thought possible…

For me, it started the summer before my sophomore year.


	2. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start.
> 
> (Edited for clarity 5/22/2016)

The rusty blue pickup truck rattled slightly passed green fields and intermittent towns down on Interstate 94 towards Minneapolis. The heat waves of the June sun pulsed across the worn asphalt. 

Don Parris, with his black Gucci sunglasses, a faded gray expensive T-shirt and designer jeans was an awkward fit with the rundown truck, but he drove it like it was newest Mercedes right off the lot. Meegan Chöke sat next to him in the passenger seat, her black hoodie with her long baggy sleeves rolled up, and dark jeans almost blending into the black upholstery of the truck. Merry Locuss sat behind Don, looking cozy in her layered look of green tank top over a short sleeved black shirt. Her rabbit Charlie shed light hairs over the black sleeves. Jacque Easter scooted as close to the car door as possible, sneezing occasionally into her stripped gray sweater. Her black painted stained jeans had a few light hairs on them.

Meegan, reading a large novel about dragons and strong female protagonists, moved forward in her seat, her thick rimmed glasses glinting slightly in the early morning light. The windows were down in the front, causing her thick mane of reddish brown curls to dance slightly in her loose ponytail, with the occasional strand escaping and slipping around to her fair and freckled skin. She adjusted Hawkins, her therapy totem, in the cup holder. He was a fork with a face drawn on him and represented her anxiety and unspoken trauma, according to her therapist, she was meant to throw him away after drawing on his face, but she couldn't. Not yet. She shifted again, focusing back on Katt, the fire-wielding heroine.

Don hummed slightly to the soft pop song on the radio, he adjusted his pale pink beanie over his shaved head, his corkscrews shorn tightly against his head, his dark skin contrasting greatly against the pastel cap. The chorus reached its peak and he tapped his long fingers against the steering wheel. He pushed his dark blue hoodie’s sleeves back up his toned forearm, tucking it slightly at his elbow. He shh’d Merry behind him, who was singing to the song in accented German.

Merry huffed, and cuddled Charlie closer to her. She tucked her thick black hair behind her ear, it flicked up in a slight curl just underneath her naturally tan chin. Charlie sniffed her nose, causing her thin brown glasses to slip and she let out a giggle and a coo. She shifted back on the bench seat, her white skirt rising slightly, showing off her deep brown leggings underneath.

Jacque sneezed again, her faded red waves shook slightly under her large beanie. Her light brown skin had a reddish undertone in the white light of the slowly rising sun. Her light brown almost golden eyes were slits and barely open against her tan and freckled skin. She had her cell phone in her small hand, swiping slightly through her game of checkers. She twitched closer to the door when Merry opened her mouth and inhale greatly.

“Do you think they’re ok? I hate putting them in cages.” Merry stretched in her seat, twisting to get a look at the pickup’s bed.

“They’re fine… People, do you think there’ll be food or will we have to order in?” Jacque groaned, one eye closing while the other squinted at Charlie.

“No, Hawkins made sure that the appliances were dropped off by the agency. The Boss’s going to meet us there anyway, so there’ll be food.” Meegan responded, ignoring Jacque's fist pump behind her.

Meegan stared down at the book she had open, she didn’t like being relocated. Oh, New York City, the city that never sleeps, she was going to miss it. She was going to miss having her own apartment, her privacy; they all would miss that. They were very miffed about getting reassigned but when the Boss says pack, you better pack. They at least got new kitchen appliances, her stove could barely boil water, and larger spaces were always good, right? New stuff that would be theirs; well, theirs until they had to move again.

Meegan had heard of teams that had stayed in the same location for 10- 15 - 20 years! They went up in rank, of course, but it was nice to think that it was possible to make a home with your team. She hoped this team would become a family, that’d be her personal goal, but there were so many different personalities within the team, personalities that clashed.

There was Merry’s happy and passionate one, that while she was caring, her short-temper and volatile tendencies made Meegan wonder how the girl made it so far without committing mass murder. Her file was thorough enough to include her accuracy with weapons, and while her love for animals and flowers made her seem friendly and safe, her underlying anger could be tricky to navigate.

Don, on the other hand, was a rather simple person. Not in a mean way, in a straightforward way. He cared about the latest fashion magazines, shoes, himself, and shoes, there was no room for the team. He was practically dragged in by Meegan and Merry, his computer skills and driver’s license made him the perfect candidate for the team's resident transportation expert. No one knew if he was really in or out, they only knew he didn’t like them, he liked his paycheck, and he loved shoes. His file barely contained any information on him that they didn’t already know outside of that.

Then, there was Jacque, who she didn’t even get a file for; apparently, it had been lost in a building fire. She was lazy, angry, and not a fan of any of them. She didn't like them, and they all certainly didn't like her attitude. Her goals for this little excursion into Team-dom wasn't voluntary, and she wanted everyone to know that.

Meegan was so different from Jacque; she only wanted what was best for the team. She missed her family, or, rather what was left of it. She wanted to make this team a family, which was going to be interesting. She at least had Hawkins, right? Her best friend, a Pronged Warrior with past, that no one believed to be real, but she had him. She jerked forward as Don turned to an off ramp.

“We’re stopping at the next gas station; I need to change,” Don announced.

“…Change? What’s wrong with your clothes? They’re not dirty, you put them on this morning when we left the hotel!” Merry cried, squeezing Charlie.

“Sweetie, that was back in Chicago, four hours ago! I can’t be caught dead wearing the same thing all day!” Don flipped his head as if he had hair to whip threateningly.

“Don, no, there’s only like two or three hours left tops, let’s just get home,” Meegan stated.

“You mean to the house,” Jacque replied, her face completely blank, though her slouch showed her distaste.

“Yes, the house…” Meegan looked out the window again, her face unreadable.

“Actually, I side with Don on this one, guys. I need to feed Joanne, Sammy, Josh, and Tigress… oh and the tiger cubs.” Merry conceded, looking down at the bunny in her arms.

“It’s ok, Merry, I guess we’ll stop. Might as well refill the gas tank and stock up on food, it appears to be Jacque left us low in that area…” They all looked at Jacque, who readily ignored them.

“I need to pee,” Jacque mumbled before twitching away from the squeaking bunny next to her.

Jacque was pissed, at both the situation and the company. They had been in the truck for HOURS, only stopping to refill gas. The bunny that Mary (Or was it Marry…Merry…Maria…Margaret?) referred to as Charlie occasionally escaped the girl’s arms and was irritating her throat with its' furry body of evil. Meghan-Meegan’s whole-hearted but failing attempts at conversation were awkward. She wasn’t new to the idea of “new”, new people, new things, and new lives, but this was the first time it happened like this. This being, these people, strangers, she had met only seven months ago, all crammed into a house together. It was like those awful reality shows Agent Myers watched.

She was ok with Miss Animals; the animals she could murder, but the girl, she at least respected. She was a fighter, a good one, but a bit shatkiy*. She had promise.

Miss Bossy Haare, the “leader,” was a goody three shoes...goody good person; too good, compared to the crowd Jacque used to run with. Jacque could tell she tried, but maybe she tried a little too much? Her “morals” got in the way and the two of them would never get along, but Jacque could deal with that; work around it and to hopefully avoid her. She wouldn't help anyone; you can't make a peaceful world without cracking a few skulls.

Don-Ron, she honestly didn’t have an opinion about, even after their travels, and she doubted that would change anytime soon. He was all, “Hey, look at me! I am the best one dressed here!” She cared not for fashion and it’s not like she even had time for it. Where would fashion be, when the world was engulfed in flames?

She looked up to see them pulling into a gas station. And heard Meegan say something about no more than 15 minutes? She honestly wasn’t paying attention…That was one of the “reasons” they failed the qualification trials, the Boss said she did fine, but Meegan complained that she hadn’t listened? Screw it… no one’s life was in danger… and even then, she did her job. No more, no less... She sighed, might as well see what's was going on…

“What was that, Meegan?”

“I said- me and Hawkins are going to buy food and pay for gas. Merry is going to feed her animals and you and Don are going to do whatever you are going to do, no one gets lost and everyone better be ready to go in fifteen minutes. Got it?” Meegan sighed, exasperated as she looked around. Merry nodded, Jacque breathed as her way of agreeing, and Don… He was not there, great! “Just… Just don’t burn the place down.” with that she was out of the truck stretching her long legs. Jacque was about to go off to the restroom when something stopped her.

“Jacque?” Merry was quiet… she was too quiet… Oh God, she had to go, DISTRACTION!

“Hm? What is it, Merry?” She knew what was coming.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” Here it goes.

“Yes?” Jacque screamed in her mind, ‘RUN!’

“Well,” Jacque flinched as Merry held out the vowel, “Meegan is restocking, and Don is changing, and well, I kinda need help feeding my cubs…” Merry looked at Jacque, her eyes almost cartoonish with the innocence reflecting off of them.

“Cubs? You mean the kittens?” Jacque flinched as her voice cracked on the word.

“No, they’re tiger cubs.” Merry nodded her head.

“You mean real tigers, like those that go growly and eat people?” That is all she needed. Jacque began to panic, rapidly looking for an escape.

“Maybe, but they haven’t eaten anyone... Yet. So, could ya help me feed ‘em’?” Jacque’s only option was blowing up the gas station, which she has done before, but then she noticed the animals looking at her from the cages… Their eyes glowed with the spirit of Veles…She had no choice.

“UGH! Fine, but I am NOT touching them!”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you don’t have to do anything but hold the bag!” The girl practically squealed in Jacque’s ear as she threw her arms around her. Jacque recoiled.

“But I have to pee first.”

“Ok, I’ll just wait here for ya.” Merry skipped out of the truck as Jacque climbed out slowly. She was currently considering shutting herself in the restrooms for fifteen minutes…

…But that would really upset Merry... and she didn't want her to cry. That'd be more annoying than her being happy. She had never met anyone so stupid, loud, obnoxious, naïve, dangerous, or nice... She shook her head, no need to dwell on such thoughts.

Deep, deep down, though, she had to hope Merry wouldn't change, it was nice to see someone smile despite the shitty life handed to them. Again, not that she cared. As she headed towards the restroom, she bumped into Don.

“Watch it.” Don heard Jacque yell at him.

“Bitch...” He mumbled as he dusted his shirt. He really didn’t like her; ok fine, he didn’t like any of them, but at least Meegan and Merry he could stand, but not her. She had no sense of fashion! Not even Merry, who was raised on a military base with no female role model, was so unfashionable. Not even Meegan, who had no family and was taken in by the government, was that uncaring about what she looked like. She had no excuse; she had worn the same pair of shoes for two weeks in a row.

She did seem to keep to herself, for the most part, and they had that in common. There were no troubles in life if there was no one in your life, except yourself. He somehow got sucked into this job, one day he was a regular guy looking for shoe sales, the next he was an agent for S.P.I.E.S. But hey, if it got the bills paid, and got him money for shoes, he’s in. The job wasn’t all that hard, but company wise, again he found them irritating, repulsive even.

There was no way out of it, though, so he’d just have to deal with it. He’d have to deal with the insane leader; the girl talked to a fork! He’d have to deal with the childish loony with a trigger-happy compulsion. The girl was drowning in animals, the smell clung to her, and maybe it was just him who smelled it because it seemed no one else noticed. And Jacque didn’t even deserve to be in his train of thought.

As he walked back to the truck he saw Merry unloading a bag of cat food and a plastic container of vegetables. He saw her wave at him and pretended not to notice and turned back to the gas station with a purpose in mind, staying away from her, from all of them. He might have luck and find cool sunglasses in there.

Merry watched him turn around; she knew he was evading her. Merry didn’t know what his problem was with her, with all of them. She had to admit it was strange to be the only male or female in a group, but she had been the only girl anywhere near her age back at the base and she never acted like that. The guys usually welcomed her in like any other, the superiors wouldn’t have allowed them to bully her, she was sure that was the same case here. She actually was happy there was a guy on the team; she was used to being around guys her whole life.

Now, she was on a team with two other girls. Merry hoped that the Boss would bring in more people into the team, as in guys, and sooner rather than later. She was always wearing dresses, skirts, tank tops, bright colors, and was rearranging her hair in new ways but at heart, she didn't care for the feminine norm. She was happy that neither Jacque nor Meegan were girly girls or she would have died a slow and quite unbearably painful death. Whether she felt comfortable or not with it, this was her team now, her unit. She was ok with it and even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t say, it wasn’t a soldier’s way to complain about the people who might save your life in the field someday.

She had a leader that was nice and really seemed to put her back into her team. She wasn’t at fault for the relocation and Merry knew that. But, she probably felt guilty about it, they all did whether they'd admit it or not. She had read from her file that Meegan had it hard, losing her family in a fire, all of her family gone- all but two brothers. She could relate to that, at least in some ways, she knew what it was like to wait for someone to come home but knowing they wouldn‘t...

A homosexual guy that cared more about the clothes he was wearing than about getting shot. Not that she had an issue with that, but he was so much more flamboyant than herself, they'd probably get into fights... She was going to have to ask to be partnered off with someone else if he didn’t change. She didn’t want to get killed thanks to him watching his shoes rather than her back.

Jacque, she actually liked a lot. She slouched, argued with superiors, and looked like she would kill her companions if they irritated her too much, but she liked her. Something Merry had noted about her was that she had a low accent. You would miss it if you never encountered it. Merry, if she had to guess, would say it would be somewhere in Europe maybe Eastern Europe or Swiss? She looked up, registering a noise.

 Jacque came around and made a give me motion with her hand towards the bag Merry was carrying. 

Meegan came out of the station with Don following. As Meegan set the bags she was holding in her arms in the back seat, the girls heard her say something to Don about checking if the attachment was ok. Meegan then proceeded to hook the gas line to the truck.

Don did what he was told and Jacque helped Merry feed the cubs, thick gloves covering her hands. When they were done they all climbed back into the truck and drove the rest of the way to Minneapolis, Minnesota in silence. The weight of the situation seemed to hit them as they crossed over the state line.

\----to be continued

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shatkiy- Shaky (found in Google Translate, definitely willing to hear other suggestions.  
> \----


	3. Tour of the House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arrives at their new home and The Boss decides to give them a tour.
> 
> (Edited for clarity, 9/3/16)

Don took a sharp turn off the Interstate. “Ooh girls, we almost missed the exit. That’d be bad.” The car jerked slightly, shaking Merry and Jacque in the backseat.

Jacque groaned, “Man, I was sleeping.”

“Well, wake up, we’re 10 minutes away,” Meegan said, turning slightly in her seat. “So, we will be living in Maplewood, it’s a suburb Minneapolis." She glanced at Jacque's raising hand. "Yes, Jacque.”

“Can I eat something?”

“That’s not related. Merry?”

“Can I go pet that doggy?”

“You guys are the worst.” Meegan turned around, before directing Don to turn left. “It’s just down there, before the street that begins with L.” Don nodded, slowing down in the residential neighborhood. The houses were all different sizes until they slowed down at a stop sign on L street. The street sign was faded, and too hard to read. “Wow…”

Don did a U-turn after the stop sign and pulled up a driveway of the large white house with 2 SUVs out front. It was a warm white with large bay windows reflecting out front. It was large, easily the largest house in the neighborhood. It wasn’t super extravagant, but certainly not modest. It was 3 stories, with a single car garage, and framed by large oak trees. They all got out of the car, Merry still holding Charlie and casting a glance at her animals in the truck bed. Jacque wondered if the tour she knew awaited would be quick. Don looked bored. Meegan was putting on her best fake smile while putting Hawkins in the right breast pocket of her blue jacket.

“I didn’t know they were setting us up with a palace,” Merry mumbled. The large white front door opened, revealing Chief Special Agent Myers, their short and busty handler, at the top of the steps to the front door. The house was situated on a slight hill, the floor with the garage going into the hill, with front door being on the technical second floor.

“Come inside, Agents. The Chief Supervisor wants to welcome you to your new home…” Agent Myers gestured inside, her matte black jacket rustling slightly.

They knew The Boss had arrived earlier and checked to make sure the house was complete; the renovations adding a sub-basement without letting nosy neighbors in on the secret took weeks. During the renovations, a conference room was added, a bathroom removed, and they walled in 5 feet along the side of the house above the garage for a hideaway. The normal house at the end of the street was not so normal anymore, now it was their headquarters. A wooded area lay behind the house, courtesy of the park and lake behind the neighborhood.

They walked into the house quietly, The Boss was sitting on a chair in the middle of a large open space. She stood up, adjusting her black jacket over a pale blue blouse, her stature long and lean. She was a good 5' 8", taller with her plain nude pumps on, extending her pale legs that gracefully stood stark under an A cut black skirt. Her long hay blonde hair was pulled up into a neat bun, not a hair out of place. She was wearing her signature black sunglasses, blocking their view of her eyes. The blackness of the glasses was harsh against her lightly fair face.

There was a chair next to hers and they were on looking four other wooden chairs. The chairs were off to the side of the living room area, an archway to the left side showing a sliding glass door to a spacious backyard.The Boss leaned forward and grabbed a small pile of papers on one of the seats.

“Have a seat, agents.” They sat automatically as Agent Myers disappeared out the door taking Charlie with her. “Since you know what you are doing here, I don’t need to explain. But now you need the details on your new... arrangement.” She paused a moment to study them and then continued. “Agent Myers is no longer in charge of you, I am. Her reassignment notwithstanding, Agent Chöke, you are still the designated leader of what will be a fully functioning Team 109. In order to better evaluate your unique situation, we, meaning the Council, have created a special task force out you so you all have the opportunity to... regain your ranks as individual agents. Jacque and Merry, your upcoming rank graduation is on pause until the end of this assignment.” They sat in silence before Jacque raised her hand.

"Will I still maintain my current, or am I demoted to a general agent," Jacque asked quietly.

“You all are maintaining your current status as of one month ago. Now... would you all care to see the house?” She was met by more silence, so she stood up and they followed. The Boss opened her arms, “This is the living room, as you can see we have not added furniture.” She handed Meegan a catalog from the small pile of papers. “As a team, you get to decide what the house looks like for the most part. However, if you break something and need to replace it, it will come out of your paychecks. The living room, however, already comes with a 60-inch flat screen TV that will be added with the rest of your stuff next week. It is courtesy of the Head of Council. He thanks you for the laugh he had when watching the recording of your qualifications test...” The team collectively grimaced. She gestured corner adjacent to the front door. "In the corner is a closet. Don’t put weapons here. Or anywhere on this floor... Keep the appearance up for visitors, please... You can have three tables for this room anymore and we will take from your paychecks. Ok, any question? By the way, Agent Chöke, I will ask for a list of things to add by the end of tomorrow.” Meegan nodded in response.

“How many days does it take for the stuff to get here after we’ve asked for it?” Don asked.

“Two days, Next room?” They all nodded and walked through the wide archway into the next room. “Over here is the kitchen and dining room. Here is the kitchen catalog,” she said handing it to Meegan. “However, as you can see we’ve already added a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave, they are all silver. We remodeled the pantry and all the cabinets.”

“This is really white...” Merry said in awe as she walked over to the kitchen. She touched the countertop in front of her, the cold marble chilling her fingers.

“Yes... the kitchen is... white. ” The Boss said giving her a weird look, "The kitchen comes with two fridges, one is a deep freezer. There is a TV and a phone here. There is enough food for two weeks if Jacque is kept away. It seemed enough for you all to settle in. Remember, you are expected to go and check out the city sooner rather than later. Get acquainted with your surroundings. Meet your neighbors; make friends, because who knows how long you’ll be here. You live here now, like it or not. The Dining room... just make sure you choose a six-seat table. You will also need to choose six seats for the counter. Next room.” They walked back to the living room to the stairs that were on the left side of the house, opposite the wall with the garage. There were two stairs, one leading up and around to the second floor, and the other set leading down and around the other way to the basement and garage.

“On the top floor, there are two regular sized bedrooms and a master bedroom. They all have regular sized closets." She stopped at the top of the stairs. "On left side is a Master restroom and a smaller restroom, and in between is the conference room.” She led them into the large room, “Here you will hold private meetings. We’ve already added much of the tech needed, 2 desks with completely up to date operating systems designed by our research teams and all encrypted, Jacque and Don have more details on that. There are cabinets, phones, a meeting table, printers, everything you would need. "Miss Chöke, a word.” The others filed out, Don shouting that he claimed the biggest room. The Boss headed straight for a waterfall portrait on the wall next to what seemed to be a closet. She moved it to the right and a keypad was visible, she typed in the numbers 100109 and the closet door opened.

“If you want, you can change the picture in the portrait later on. In here is the main hub and direct line to the SPIES Headquarters in New York and DC. I would rather if you were the only one to use this unless the situation weren’t to allow it. It is a three-way camera communications center so we can talk live about missions, updates, and status' of you as a team. There are the backup servers in the room also, but panels in the wall can also access them directly.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They walked out and the door closed and locked. Walking out into the large hallway, they saw Merry laying on the floor looking under the door of one of the rooms. Don was inside the master bedroom. Jacque was looking out one of the windows at the end of the hall, underneath a string hanging from the ceiling.

“Team, together. Jacque was just underneath the attic's fold out stairs, it's not a large space, keep that in mind. Here are the room catalogs, make sure to keep an eye out for the sizes of the rooms you choose. Moving on.” They headed down the staircase, turned on the first floor, continuing down to the basement/ground floor.

“This is technically the first floor, but it's more appropriate to call in the basement." They walked further into the room. "To your left is the main living space downstairs. On the left wall, we have a bathroom, then the kitchen, then an area for laundry, then a small bedroom. On the right wall continuing in a counterclockwise motion, we have a bedroom, and then the rest of the lobby. Again, keep the appearance up for the neighbors or whoever comes to visit... Moving on.” She headed out the door to the garage. “Here obviously you’ll store the SUV we’ll leave, there is enough room to store two, I do not care what you do with the rest of the space, just no weapons, again, try to not make it so obvious you work for the government. Finally,” they headed to the very back of the garage where there was a small room. The Boss opened the door, leading them through the small room to the back where there was a door with no handle and a small number pad, she typed in 100109, and the door slide open from the middle revealing an elevator.

“I thought this was the back wall,” Don asked.

“It’s not. On the right side of the house, there are approximately 5 feet of space behind the walls. Merry and Jacque have fitted it with weapons, storage, backup servers, and telecommunication devices. Only they have direct access to the entrances, other than this one, and in an emergency, they will lead you back there for a quick escape.” They walked into the elevator facing another back on the inside, Merry being dragged in forcibly, The Boss pressed the down button, “Our facility built below your house and leading back and beyond the park is 100 feet below your home,” in a few seconds the second door opened to a hallway, with doors lining both sides. On the right side, there are two doors, the left side three doors, and single door at the end of the long hallway.

The Boss gestured to the right side of the hallway, "Those doors lead to our simulation room control room." She opened the closest door to them on the right, "Our control room is state of the art," The room was large with two large paneled tables with buttons and levers, each paneled table had two chair stationed at them, and the tables sat in front of a large window looking into another larger room. Computers sat on both sides of each table, with wireless mice and keyboards stationed in front of them. The Boss allowed them to walk in, and explore the panels.

“What's the mic for?" Meegan asked, pointing to the microphone on the panel in front of the computer screens.

“It's connected to the wireless headsets I'm providing you with and the speaker in the room. To work on your abysmal team work, this is your main mission training center. Created with puzzles and on the job thinking in mind, there are currently over a thousand different simulations programed into the room."

"Simulations?"

"Yes, we have a series of 3D rendered simulations for you to work through, each generated from past missions that have been difficult for agents to get through. They will render in a wireframe animation style, and you will each have a limited time to work through them." The Boss pushed a few buttons, the room inside the window became lit with thin lines making up a series of people and cars, "This one is about tracking a moving target, and the computers decide how fast the target moves and allows you to choose from 26 different paths through the crowd. Jacque and Don have the most experience with the programs, which were created and tuned during their time in Advanced Computer Science back in the academy.” She gestured to the second door, and they walked back into the hallway.

They walked down to the single room at the end of the hall. “This is our gym, you have punching bags, large workout mats, weighted balls, a balance beam, and two small benches. This is for complex maneuver designing and warm ups as well as your yearly physical test.” The room was large with wooden floors, and along the wall they came in was an arched opening.

“What’s that?” Merry chirped.

“That your official workout room, there are at least two of every machine here, treadmills, bicycles, weights, incline machines, ellipticals, small climbing walls, steppers, benches for crunches, bars for pull ups, and other weight lifting stations..” The room was carpeted and large, almost 30 feet tall, with rows of machines. In the middle of the room were two smaller rooms, on their right side was restrooms and the left side closer to the hallway was labeled showers. On the same wall of the showers were two doors leading to the hallway.

“Gross.” Jacque groaned, leaning against the treadmills next to her.

“Agent Easter, you and your teammates will all be required to spend time here at least once a week.”

Jacque groaned loudly, “Why~?”

“Because it’s required, Agent.” She led them through the workout room, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, and out the far door that was closest to the elevator. Walking back into the hallway, she opened the last door, revealing a storage room. “This is your main weapons facility and used for weapon storage and cataloging.” The room had rows of shelves and cabinets. The Boss pulled on one of the cabinets, it pulled out like a rolling drawer, but had was tall with blank weapon spots above, and drawers towards the bottom. She pulled on the drawers open, and it expanded like a jeweler's box, with multiple levels expanding on butterfly hinges and maximizing space for smaller daggers and guns.

“Towards the back, we have a retractable staircase leading down to our more… destructive weapons, if you will.” She lead them down to a bunker type abode, with large rifles, missile launchers, semi-automatic guns, two large swords, and archery accessories.

Merry ooh'd and ah'd repeatedly, "This is my new favorite room."

“I have more catalogs here with me so you guys can stack up whenever needed, within reason. Merry takes lead on weapons acquisition, however, Merry, if you need certain weapons, your security clearance might not allow it, in that case, Jacque might have to be convinced to go through her account.” The Boss walked up the stairs, and out to the hall, “Let’s head to the simulation room.” She walked across the hall.

"Everyone, head into the room.” They all walked into the room, Don huffing as he accidentally scuffed his shoes against the steps leading down into the room. “Here's an example, Test Protocol F41-LUR3. Enjoy." The team froze as the room seemed to shudder before the walls shifted, blocking one of the doors leading into the room in the process, and revealing tiny holes in the walls. The team shouted as the floor began to drag them across the room, with at least 30 or 40 feet between them and the single remaining door leading into the room.

"Oh SH-" Jacque yelled before dropping to the floor, the rest of the team following quickly has multiple lasers beamed out from the wall. “How is the floor dirt?” She cried, sneezing slightly as the upset dirt puffed up from the floor.

The loudspeaker crackled once, "We’re underground, Agent, you’re surrounded by dirt. You have 30 minutes to reach the opposite wall before I leave. Should you take longer than that, realize that I'm locking the testing facility behind me and changing the code every 10 minutes after that, knowing that Don and Jacque take 12 minutes and 25 seconds to break random sequence codes. Work. Together. Or spend the night down here with only protein rations and warm bottle water for dinner." The speaker beeped as it was turned off.

Merry spoke up from the ground. “All laser security systems are on a specific layout model right?”

Jacque groaned, "Only in basic museum protection and even then," She wiggled around grabbing a candy wrapper from her pocket and lifting her arm to one of the lasers, instantly burning the wrapper, "Those are just lights tripping alarms, this is concentrated lightsaber crap."

Don hissed, "Ya'll better figure this out soon, do you know how much I spent on this hat alone? Too damn much to burn with a laser!"

"Don't worry, it's just like geometry!" Meegan said, "Angles and what not." She slowly wiggled along the floor to the back wall. She slowly stood up, leaning away from the red line that cut just a foot and a half from her nose, "Make your way over here, and we'll go one at a time." Don moaned again.

"But my pants!" He whined loudly.

"DON!" They all shouted before they each crawled slowly to the back wall and standing up, their fronts each a dusty brown from the dirt floor. Jacque stared along the path.

"I see... 2 ways we could get there. Merry?" She dug in her deep pockets and pulled out a small notebook and a little stubby pencil and drew a small continuous line that jumped and jerked across the page and handed it to Merry. Merry looked at it and looked at the lasers crisscrossing across the room before scratching down a dotted line intersecting Jacque's solid line.

"I only see 1, and it'd take two people." Jacque hummed. before nodding.

"I'll take your way, and we'll see if we make it. I'll mark the lasers by numbers" She started forward, slow and jerky, with occasional feats of graceful movements, she rattled off numbers and locations for Merry to mark down. Ducking and folding herself with Merry's instructions, she backtracked twice to have Merry revise the plan to fit the individual limits of each member until she stopped halfway through and shouted as she moved to duck under a beam.

"SHIT!" Jacque dove and jumped to the dirt before rolling to the left and getting back up.

"What?" Merry called, as Meegan and Don jerked forward, stopped by the red light.

Jacque crouched, went to leap before suddenly dropping to the floor in a flash of smoke from touching the laser.

They all called out, "JACQUE!" in panic, Merry started in on the first few lasers with Meegan and Don rushing into the fray.

"IT'S MOVING!" She groaned. "It moves over here, just a little, an inch or 4, but be careful around the 23rd laser. I'm gonna keep going." She slowly stood up, ducking under the oscillating laser. 5 minutes later she made it to the door and turned off the lasers. The team quickly made their way over. "How long was that?"

Meegan checked her phone, "Crap, 35 minutes." Before they could begin to complain, they heard clapping. They walked up the stairs and saw The Boss waiting for them.

"I'm surprised, I thought that would have taken a lot longer. Not the best, but a great improvement on qualifications." She walked over and handed them each a key. "Welcome to Minneapolis, Team 109."


	4. The Assistant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team is not adjusting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 28.03.16

Meegan settled into the temporary couch she acquired while the Team Bank Account was being set up.  It had been 20 days since they moved in, The Boss had misplaced their paperwork for the account so they had survived on minimal furniture and minimal outside help. Don had gotten a job at some restaurant in the meantime.  She had applied to a few place, but no one called her back. She adjusted herself slightly, she opened up her book on military weapon training, but before she could start it-

"MEEGAN! Have you seen my new Coco Chanel military boots?! I can’t find them anywhere, and gurrrrl, you know I can’t go out without them." Don screamed from the closet in the living room.

Merry shouted from the kitchen. "Meegan! One of my bunnies is trapped outside! He needs help!" She burst into large tears, before shoving Jacque, who was pouring some cereal, over in her dramatic flailing by the window.

Meegan sighed as she walked upstairs. "Hawkins! The team is imploding again!" Hawkins, a fork with  a small face drawn on it, like normal, decided not to reply. "Don’t say that; remember what happened last time!" She sighed louder. "Don, your boots on in transit from your storage facility, Merry, it’s a bunny, it’ll be fine in its pen. Jacque, get up. Team, I think it’s time to make a change around here. We’re hiring an assistant." Don walked over to the kitchen, hands on his hips.

“Really? An assistant for what? Paperwork? Our problem here is that spazzy has a zoo up in here, while Gluttony Gabby eats us out of house and home, and you have more books than I have shoes. Nothing an assistant would ever deal with!” He huffed “And I need furniture up here! I cannot dramatically sit on wooden chairs!”

Jacque groaned from the floor, “No more people, khorosho?”

“They’ll help us acclimate to a normal teenage lifestyle, and maybe help with the housework. Anyway, Hawkins and I would like pizza for dinner.” Meegan nodded before she and Don walked out. Merry opened the back door and let her bunny in, before skipping away, leaving Jacque on the floor.

Jacque stared at the ceiling, her eyes narrowing. “Scheiße…” before standing up quickly and putting up the box of cereal.

Two days later had Team 109 sitting behind a large table in conference room rented out downtown. Don reading a magazine, Meegan holding a notebook and pen, conversing with Hawkins, Merry holding one of her frogs and cooing at it, and Jacque is sleeping with her head pillowed in her arms.

A young woman with board straight blonde hair and a sweater walked in.  "HI! I’m Meredith and I would, like, LOVE to be your assistant! My skills inclu-"

Don interrupted, "GURRRL! Those shoes do not go with that outfit! Honey, you need to go shopping outside of your granny’s closet."

Jacque just mumbled into her arms as Merry gasped. "Are you wearing fur? Is that bunny?!"

Meegan nodded, "We don’t like you."

Meredith glared before stomping off. The next few rounds continued with Don admonishing clothing choices, Merry either ignoring or shouting about sustainable animal-free clothing, and Meegan acting as a moderator. Jacque barely spoke throughout the whole process.

"We’re not getting very far, are we?" Meegan sighed. Don had left half way through the last interview and reappeared with burgers, chicken nuggets, and fries, as well as a small parfait for Merry. Jacque moaned in hunger and ate her subpar burger in vigor.

The door opened before a skinny young man walked in. "Is this the band auditions? This building is huge! This is the 6th room I’ve tried... Why are there clowns in this building?" He asked, looking at the weird clown mannequins in the back of the room. Leo, Merry's large, but oddly smooth Goliath frog bounded from behind the table where Merry had moved to the floor over to the boy. 

Merry squeaked and jumped up, "Leo, come back!"

Don whistled, "Boy, you are working that sweater vest!"

Meegan smiled wide, "We like you. You’re hired."

Jacque's eyes opened staring at the young and confused man, but she didn't move. "I don't think-"

Merry giggled, picking up Leo. "YAY! A new friend!" She twirled around the boy.

Desmond stared, "Uh wait! I don't think-"

"What's your name?" Jacque groaned out, stretching still in her seat.

"Uh, Desmond. Desmond Troy."

Meegan hummed slightly before walked over, grabbing his hand. "Good. I need you to come by this address first thing in the morning." She pulled out a pen with a smiley face at the end from her pocket, before scribbling on his hand. "We'll have a lot of paperwork, so bring your best hand."

"What?" Desmond whispered, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Jacque raised her eyebrow, "No one likes to listen to me." Before tipping back in her chair, watching the new boy try and say something before getting count off by Meegan's ramblings, Merry's giggles, or Don's oogling. She shook her head. “This just won’t do…”

Desmond just looked scared and frazzled. “I really had to make this audition…if…someone… knows where it is…” he mumbled under the ruckus.

 


	5. What's the Job?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desmond gets more info.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: This is the last reuploaded chapter for awhile. We're going under a complete overhaul of the story and it's gonna take some time to get it together.  
> (April 21, 2016)

Desmond stood uncomfortably outside, his mom had dropped him off, excited at the idea he might get a job. Not that she cared about his concerns, when he told her it was a bunch of teens looking for a… a? He didn’t even know, but when his mom looked up the number on one of her rare nights off, she told him it was a great opportunity, though she had to leave before she could tell him what it was. He took a deep breath, before knocking on the white door.

The bushy haired girl who wrote her number down for him opened the door, “Hi, may I help you?” she asked, her voice deep but feminine, she smiled slightly but her eyes didn’t seem happy. Her thicker eyes were tense and her eyes narrowed at him.

“Uh... Yes, you told me to come...” He said confused. She gave him an unimpressed look. “...I was looking for the band additions and you gave me a job?” She tilted her head. “We... we met yesterday... we talked about this yesterday.” She suddenly nodded, her smile brightening.

“Ah, yes! How could I forget?! Sorry, I have far too many things on my mind.” She gestured into the house, he slid passed her, nervously twitching.

“Yeah... Uh, about the, uh, job? You were a bit… vague with your details. And by vague, I mean there wasn’t…any…” He looked the room he was, the place was bare, there were chairs set around a large box in what he assumed was the living room.

“Of course, um.... Daniel?” She asked, gesturing for him to sit in one of the chairs.

“Desmond,” he muttered, sitting down.

“Right, Desmond, good name. I’m Meegan, Meegan Chöke.” She smiled.

“Nice to be formally introduced. Uh thanks, it was also my grandfather’s.” He smiled back, still uncomfortable.

“Anyways, I’m on a schedule and explaining things twice doesn’t fit into that schedule.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.” Desmond started, before a girl ran downstairs, causing Meegan to stand up. She was crying, her tan cheeks slightly ruddy. She sniffled, her dark brown hair bouncing with her exaggerated sobs, she was wearing a white tank top over a dark brown shirt and dark blue jeans, an outfit befitting a much younger girl than herself in style.

“Meegan! Jacque threatened to kill Franklin!” She cried, her small hand coming up and knocking her glasses askew while rubbing her brown eyes. “She said she’d turn him into soup!”

“Merry let him come into my room!” Another voice cried out from atop the stairs. “And obviously I wouldn’t cook the thing, it’d be terrible soup!”

“It was an accident!” Merry cried back at the girl walking in. Desmond looked up at the stairs as another girl came down, her fuzzy mess of reddish brown curls fell loose around her face. Russet brown eyes glared at him, her tan face scrunched in annoyance. She was taller than the girl crying but shorter than Meegan.

“Ugh! Really? We’re letting strangers into the house!” She sneered, “He couldn’t even find his nerd meeting, but no one cares about my opinion on new members! How do you expect a dweeb like that to deal with this!?” She stormed back upstairs.

“Yeah, she’s.... Yeah....” Meegan sighed again before turning away from a calming Merry.

“Least she remembers me from, like, yesterday,” Desmond said.

“She doesn’t remember important things.” The other girl said absent-mindedly, sniffing slightly.

“Merry!” Meegan admonished.

“Sorry.” Merry whimpered, turning her slowly watering eyes up at Meegan.

“It’s okay, Mary.” Desmond tried to calm her.

“No!!! It’s Merry! Like Christmas!” She gave him a puffy childish pout.

“Excuse me?”

“My name is Merry, like Christmas!”

“M....E-R-R-Y?” He turned to Meegan for help, none of which she offered.

“Yes!” Merry smiled up at him.

“I’m Desmond, it’s nice to meet you again.” He stretched his hand but the girl instead of taking it threw her arms around him in a hug.

“Nice to meet you too, Dezy!”

“Dezy?” Before he could question more she let go and turned to the Meegan.

“Meegan? Can I go play outside?”

“Yes but just in the front lawn, and no more homemade firecrackers!”

“Kay....” She skipped to the door. “Wait....” She stopped and turned and looked at Desmond. “Do I already know you?”

“Yeah... We met yesterday. All of us… Probably, I’m not really sure anymore, it might have been a fever dream at this point.” He responded, sighing slightly.

“Right! You’re the new friend!” Merry gasped.

Desmond blinked. “Yeah?”

“Yay! New friends!" She sang as she skipped outside.

“I don't... What just happened?” He asked, jumping when Meegan barked out a loud laugh.

“You'll probably get used to it. Merry and Jacque use their energy differently outside the field. Jacque tends to compress, while Merry tends to expand. Sit back down, we have things to go over.”

“The field? I don't get it.” he said moving to sit again.

“You will. Let's start with the basics. What is your knowledge regarding the Federal Government?” She asked crossing her legs and smiling.

“What?”

“I ask because it makes the next few things easier to swallow.”

“What? Like, drugs? Is this a drug thing, because I can’t go to Juilliard with a drug conviction!” He said quickly.

Meegan blinked. “No, not a drug thing. A government thing. Long story short, there are things that can’t be done by adults or things that adults can’t get away with, and that’s where we come in. Team 109 squad leader, Level 3 Field Agent, Meegan Chöke at your service. Jacque told me my speech was too long winded, so that’s the-”

Desmond interrupted, “We? Squad? AGENT?”

“Yep.” Meegan pulled out her badge and a matte black pistol and handed them to the boy. He yelped, jumping up away from the items and knocking back his chair.

“You serious?” She nodded. “How old are you? Why do you have a gun? Is this a drug deal? Are you gonna kill me or use me as a drug mule?” His voice squeaked as he held up his hands in defense.

“Sixteen. I trained for it. No. You need to lay off HBO, this would be a terrible drug transaction and don’t worry, it's not loaded, Jacque keeps the ammo hidden because Merry likes to shoot at the clouds." Meegan said softly.

“What? Why would she do that? Who are you, you didn’t answer my question on why do you have a gun? How did you get a gun?”

“Once again, I trained for it. I’m certainly not the best, I only just got clearance for a gun outside of training, but Merry said she’d help me out in the field, Jacque’s the real sharp shooter, but she doesn’t want to help me out.” Meegan hummed.

“Trained where? Who gives a bunch of teens guns? Why am I still here? I gotta, oh I gotta go.”

Meegan quickly stood, “Desmond, I need you to calm down and call this number.” She handed him a business card.

He slowly took the card, reading it quietly. “What’s SPIES?” He mumbled before taking out his cell phone and quickly dialing the number. It rang twice before the other line clicked.

“This is Special Agent Heather Myers.” A woman’s voice startled Desmond.

“Um, I’m sorry, I think I dialed wrong. A girl gave me this card and…”

“Oh dear god, I do not get paid enough for this, please hold.”

Another click, “Hello, who is this?” A cool voice came through, posh and feminine.

“Uh, Desmond? Desmond Troy?”

“Hmm, I see. This is a confirmation by the Head of the CIA, Jackson O’Brenn, under the Information Transparency Act, as enacted by General Council of Espionage of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.  To confirm this call, you may visit the FBI district office in Minneapolis and ask for the Chief Supervisor of the NYC District.”

“Okay, If this is a CIA matter wouldn’t I have to go to Washington DC?”

“Negative, the CIA does not work inside the continental US, but our agents do work with the FBI for internal matters. Thank you, Desmond Troy, for beginning your stay into the world of espionage. Good day.” The phone clicked.

Desmond blinked, “What-?” Before glancing over at Meegan, who was staring at him.

“Any questions?”

“Why? Why did you give me your card?”

Meegan stared at him, her eyes intensely trained on him. “We...need some help here. We’ve never had a normal life, a civilian life. We’ve never had to worry about band auditions, peer pressure, or even college. We need a connection to this world, your world. We know we’re gonna be here for a long while and we can’t relax because we don’t know relaxed. Think of this as being our liaison, a bridge between your world and ours.”

Desmond sat down, “But… teen spies don’t exist. How do I know this isn’t some sort of scam? Like huge organ black market ring?”

Meegan sighed again, before nodding, “Proof, got it. Follow me.” She walked over to and up the stairs, Desmond slowly following her. He looked around the top floor, the 3 closed doors along the wall in front of him, with a wide hallway between them. Meegan led him to a door in the middle, she knocked twice. “Jacque?”

“No.” Came an angry voice from behind the door.

“Jacque, I need you to pull all files on Desmond Troy.”

“WHAT?” Desmond said loudly.

Jacque’s door opened suddenly. “Lady, I did that the moment you, Pinky, and Turtle girl decided to… compromise our location in a month.” She pushed her door slightly as she spun and entered her bare room. She had a single laptop in the middle of the room, a single sleeping bag with a large pillow next to it, with piles of papers spread all around. She crouched down, crab walking around the piles, shuffling the top few as she scanned them, “It’s… no, no, no, here!” She grabbed a stack, tapping it against the floor to straighten it. “Everything on the surface is here, his…” she sneered at him, “secrets are mine to have.”

Desmond stared back at her, “Secrets?”

She smirked, “2nd grade, the gorilla.”

His face paled dramatically, “How…”

“I have my sources.” She snickered as she stood up and handed the papers to Meegan.

Meegan shuffled through the papers, “Take a look Desmond, we have sealed school records, emails, phone logs, various things we physically could not get unless we had the means available.”

Desmond looked at the files, “Is this legal?”

Jacque laughed, leaning against the door side, “Hell no, but that’s never stopped me. I sealed it right back up, no one will know, though, oh glorious leader, I got a few things to tell you after the dweeb leaves.” She pushed off from the door jam and closed her door roughly.

“So…” Meegan turned to Desmond. “What do you think?”

Desmond gulped, “Either you’re evil crime lords… or you might be government agents…” He paused, “But I’m interested. What do I do?”

“How about you move in and we’ll go from there?” Meegan said. It took him a minute to process what she said.

“Wait... What? Move in?!”  He actually really didn’t want an answer.

“Yeah, I told you, didn’t I? I always seem to forget that... We’re a team and we live together, you’re part of the team now, so you need to move in too.” His eyes bugged.

“What about my family? What do I say? It’s not like they would actually let me move out and in here at the age of 16! I can’t exactly say I’m working for the government, now can I? Plus, what about school?”

“Great idea! School! I haven’t thought of that. JACQUE.” She banged on the door. “WHAT SCHOOL IS NEAR HERE?”

“Look, I don’t even know how long we’ll be here, I mean my mom and I might be going back to Texas soon. I overheard her say something about that to my grandma.” Desmond said.

“Why are you here?”

“We came to visit my grandparents like we do every break school allows, we were thinking we could possibly stay but we might not-”

Jacque’s door opened, “Either Black Bear Pond South High School, or MCD North High.” Her door closed.

“Can’t you say you wanna stay? I mean, according to your file, your mom works as an IT specialist downtown, surely she can stay at her job here and request an official transfer from the branch in Texas, you can go to school here, and say you’ve been selected as a reverse host situation for some at-risk kids. I’ll have the Boss set it up.”

“You sure that would work?”

“Yeah, the Boss’ll arrange it.”

Desmond looked unconvinced, “Okay...but what will I even do here?”

“Well, we’d need to assess your field skills and see if you could help there; Merry can do that when she evaluates us as a team. Um, we’ll check your talents with technology, Jacque is our specialist in that area, Don also does his fair share but I’m not okay with her having to carry that alone, it’s too much work for one or even two people. No one is really administering or cataloging our materials or files. Don kind of looks over communications but he mainly manages the money. I help him with that and you can help too. Merry is our weapons specialist, you probably will want to stay out of that. Um, I’m the unit leader.” She paused for a couple seconds. “So yeah, basically, organization, tech, and communication.”

“Okay...” He seemed distracted.

“You need some time?”

“Nah, I’m just thinking things through. I mean, I’m going be...a spy? Lie to my mom?”

“It’s not necessarily lying. There’s only so much you’ll do in the spy field anyway, you aren’t a trainee, more like an intern.” She smiled sweetly. “Hey, you wanna see the house? Get to know some things before we finalize everything? Get to know the grumps that live here?” They both smiled slightly.

“Why not?” He shrugged, still smiling.

“Ok, let’s head back downstairs.” They walked down the stairs one flight, “Well, you see this is the living room, it’s pretty empty right now,” She outstretched her hands motioning to the two chairs and various pillows on the floor. There was nothing but the chairs, raggedy couch, pillows and a huge television in the room. “We moved in a few weeks ago and we’re still pending a visit to buy furniture and other things.”

“What are those?” He asked looking at the clutter of squeaky toys and bowls in the archway separating the front and back of the house.

“Oh, Merry has an... extensive collection of animals. You’ll see.” She led him through the archway to the kitchen and dining area. There sat a large wooden table with six chairs, a flower vase as a centerpiece. There were also six bar stools at the counter separating the kitchen from the dining room. On the counter was a bowl of fruit. Meegan walked to the bowl, sighing loudly at the apple core in the bowl, she shook her head. “Jacque.” He looked around the kitchen and saw it was pure white and silver. He watched as Meegan proceeded to throw away the apple and saw that the trash was filled with disposable dishes, she wasn’t kidding about just moving. She caught his eye.

“Yeah... Like I said we haven’t bought anything really.” He nodded. At least he had time to fit into the barren house, he wouldn’t be disrupting the flow of the building.

“Here, let’s go back upstairs.” They turned around and went up the stairs, Meegan turning to look at him at the top of the stairs. “Ok, so up here is where the girl’s and Don’s rooms are, you’ve already seen Jacque’s room. They’re all pretty much like that.”

“Don is the guy from yesterday, right?” He remembered a tall boy, dark skin, dark eyes, not much hair really, dressed really... fancy, elegant, like a model.

“Mhm, his room is that one,” She pointed to the room at the back end of the hall. There was a tarp on the wall and piles of wood and wood beams lying in front of Don’s door.

“What is up with all the wood?”

“Oh... um, not really sure, he mentioned something about shoes and lack of space.” Desmond nodded slightly. “So here by the stairs,” She pointed to the door to their left, right next to the stairs. “That’s the girls’ bathroom, even though it’s the smaller one, they didn’t fight Don for the master bath, so yeah.”

“Where is he? I’d actually like to meet him.”

“Wish I could answer that... he’s not very privy to his private whereabouts.” She walked across the hall from the small bathroom, “This is Merry’s room.” He nodded. She knocked once and opened the door, inside were several animals. “Like I said earlier, she likes animals and has lots of bunnies, two turtles, many frogs, and four cats. She also has 4 tiger cubs right now. I think the count is about 26 to 30, she likes even numbers.” The room was small, but neatly organized, for what little there was to organize.

“Tigers?” He didn’t believe her but she nodded.

“Yeah, there’s a conservation act going on, and she rescued them after busting a poaching ring in south India. They're due to be transferred to a nature preserve in a few weeks.” A large bullfrog bounced over to him.

“No, inside... um... T-Rex? No, Jade?... Get back in...” The frog hopped closer to the boy and he squatted to pick it up.

“Hey there, buddy, what’s his name?” He turned to Meegan, holding the frog in both hands.

“Might be Cole, no wait... I think it’s Leo... Yeah, it’s Leo.”

“Isn’t he the same from yesterday? The one that jumped on me?”

“Probably is, well it seems he likes you.” The boy stood up carrying the frog back into the room. They shut the door. “Ok so here,” they walked down the hall towards Don’s room. “Is the master bathroom. Don’s protective of it, but you could probably use it if you want to. Let’s head down to the basement.”

“What’s that?” He pointed to a string hanging from the ceiling in between Merry’s room and the smaller bathroom.

“The attic, Don’s pretty much taken over the space as storage. Jacque was up there for like an hour and never went back up so I guess it wasn’t worth it to try and sneak some space.” He nodded and they walked downstairs and turned down to the next set of stairs.

They walked into the room, boxes in the open space in front of him. He turned his head left to look down the hallway. There was a closed door, a small archway, and another door on the left side and one door on the right side.

“What’s down there?”

“The bathrooms the first door, then a kitchenette, then a small potential bedroom that we’re using as storage, and then the lone room is mine. That’s the garage.” She said, pointing to the only door in the open space, before leading him inside. It was filled with boxes, a trailer, and there was small damp spot on the large open space. He took note of the half cover door on the back of the garage, before asking,

“You guys have a car?”

“Oh, yes we do. But, Don probably went somewhere.” She went back in and he followed.

“So... no one tells him he can’t go off on his own?”

Meegan stopped looked at him, “No, why would someone?”

“Because he’s like 16? Can he even drive without an adult?”

Meegan raised her eyebrow, “He’s 17 but yeah… Is that a law around here?”

Desmond nodded, “Kinda. Is there any adult around here?”

“Just The Boss.”

“She around much?”

“Not usually. She said she’d come around once a week and call periodically to keep an eye out until we settle in. She’s technically our “foster” parent until “we age out of the system.” We’ll tell people she is out of town a lot due to business trips. And that Don is our live-in babysitter, oh and that he’s 19 of course. That way it seems there is an adult around here all the time.”

“How do you pay all of this?”

“We get our normal paychecks biweekly but we got a bonus for the move. We’re on the government payroll, I think.”

Desmond nodded.

“Continue?” He nodded and they turned down the hallway.

“This is my room.” She opened the door. “It’s more furnished than the rooms upstairs because I had my things shipped here instead opting to buy new things.” There was a large bed, a desk, a bureau, and suitcases with boxes. She walked in and grabbed something off the bed as she smiled. “Hawkins wants out. You met him didn’t you?”

“The fork?... Yes...” He wondered if she really thought it was alive... But he didn’t question her. There was a pause and he wanted to know if was taking the room opposite her’s or if that wasn’t something he should outwardly ask. He took a deep breath and asked, quietly.

“Boss?”

“Oh Geez! WHERE?!” Meegan ducked behind her desk.

“You... you’re my boss if you hire me.” He was totally confused at her reaction.

“Oh... No! I’m Meegan, just call me that. The Boss is... The Boss.”

“Um... What is her name.”

“Boss.”

“That’s her name?” Desmond squinted at her.

“No, I don’t know. I never asked, she never said anything. She’s The Boss of our sector anyway, so other Chief Supervisors probably go by their official names or titles. But The Boss is The Boss.” She stood up and shrugged.

“Are you afraid of her?” He raised his brows.

“Yes... No... A little. She’s strict and kinda mad at us. We messed up big time and got suspended and shipped all the way out her after embarrassing her in front of the Council and the other bosses. So we’re trying not to push her too far.” She smiled sheepishly. He shook his head smiling too.

“So what happened?”

“It’s a long story, but we didn’t really live up to our name of Team 109.” She looked down, before shaking her head. “Okay, next thing?”

“Yeah.” They walked out of her room and she pointed to a small alcove to the right of her room.

“That will probably be my small library space now, you will probably take my study now.” He remembered his earlier question.

“So I’ll be staying in the room across from you?”

“Yeah,” She looked directly across. “It was going to my study once we sorted everything.” He opened the door before she could stop him, a pile of papers flooded out onto their feet. He squeaked loudly. A pair of throwing daggers slid out with the mini avalanche of papers. She immediately bent down to collect and push the items back in the room. “You.... um, weren’t supposed to see that.” He nodded. “I’ll clean, I promise.” He just stood there. “We’re continuing.... here is the laundry room, sorry it’s so close to your room. Here is a little kitchen area, all of the amenities,  and finally the restroom, we’ll be sharing, is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” He said seemingly still dazed by the dagger incident.

“Ok. Good.” She smiled wide. He smiled but seemed... out. “So you’ve seen the house or most of it. I’ll show you the rest when we’ve completed all the arrangements and paperwork and you’re all set!”

“Okay… who’s telling my mom about… me moving out at 14?”

Meegan nodded, scrunching her face. “I’m assuming The Boss will make the call. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Okay.” He smiled. He actually.... liked it, the idea of working with these people. They headed back up to the main floor. They talked for several minutes, in which they decided as soon as he left Meegan would call the Boss. Tomorrow, Desmond would come by to meet her and sign the paperwork. The Boss would cast them a visit the following day to have his mom sign relatively real paperwork and that would be that. He might move in by the weekend if everything went according to plan. Merry popped into the room as they were finishing their conversation. “Meegan, I’m starting to get hungry.”

“Ok Merry, I’ll start making dinner soon.” The girl smiled and returned outside. Meegan rolled her eyes. “You wanna stay for dinner?”

“I wish I could but,” He smiled and Meegan knew he was being honest. “I got to get back home to help my ma with dinner.” He felt his phone buzz, a text letting him know his mom was parked outside waiting for him.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow, you’ll get to meet Don.”

“I look forward to that.” They both stood and she followed him to the door. “Bye Dez.”

“Bye.” He turned to walk down the steps that lead him out to the driveway.

“You leaving?” Merry appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, I had plans with my mom.” The girl pouted down at him. “But I’m coming back tomorrow.” She lightened up, causing him to laugh at the child-like behavior.

“Ok!” She rushed down to hug him and ran to the house. She stopped at the door as if remembering something; she turned and shouted, “Bye Dezy!” She disappeared inside, the door slamming shut. He shook his head, he was sure she was actually older than him, but her actions didn’t show that. Meegan definitely acted older than she was, he’d have to get used to that.

He walked to his mom’s car, greeting her happily as he buckled. She checked her phone and GPS before leaving, giving him time to look up at the house, twitching slightly at Jacque’s figure in the second-floor window. She shook her head down at him before disappearing back into the hall. He grimaced at her visible unwelcoming behavior.

What did he just sign up for?


	6. The New Boy Moves In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desmond moves in 5 days later. His mother had received a promotion and would be home even less as she added speeches to her roster of duties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, before you start, some notice:
> 
> As we tinker with this story, posted chapters 7-13 are gonna start to change, because everything will be different as we rewrite. They are only up to provide stepping stones for me and my co-writer but are not considered canon anymore.

Meegan sighed softly, kneeling at the end of the hallway. She moved all of her books into the small space next to her room across from the now empty bedroom. Two unmade bookcases sat in their boxes, tucked in around various novels and biographies. It had taken her 5 days to clear out her stuff from that following Wednesday.

“You done?” She turned right, Don standing at the end of the hallway. He was wearing his normal extravagant clothes, a tight pair of designer jeans, a fitted top with some fancy logo, his $120 sunglasses, and a leather handbag.  “Jacque said that Dez McVest was on his way.”

Meegan raised her eyebrows back at him, “How does she know and why does she care?”

Don shrugged, “How should I know? She and McSpazzy are doing their weird kung fu yoga in the living room, you can ask ‘em.” He called out as he walked through the basement living area and out into the garage.

Meegan sighed again, hearing the car start, the garage door creak softly open, and Don leaves. She stood up, dusting off her pants before straightening her striped blue hoodie. “And up we go…” she whispered before walking down the hall and up the stairs. She stopped at the top of the stairs, watching Merry and Jacque silently. 

Merry was moving her right leg in the air as she used it to do a series of kicks while she balanced on her left leg. Jacque was like water, doing a series of arm movements while moving and lunging at different angles. Merry finished her rapid kicks and slowly lowered her leg, her head turning to see Meegan.

“Hi! Want to join us for morning katas?” Merry smiled brightly as Jacque just groaned while still moving.

“Maybe later… but I think I’ll just make breakfast. Keep an ear out, Desmond is coming by to move in.” She nodded once and walked through the dining room into the kitchen, just barely hearing Jacque’s mumbled,

“How can I keep my ears out?” and Merry’s following laugh. 

\----

Genesis stared straight ahead, turning the steering wheel slightly as they came around the corner, “I can’t be long, I have a consultation on the general hospital’s wiring in 2 hours.”

Desmond turned to his mom, “I’ll let them know, don’t worry.” She smiled softly, before pulling into the driveway. Desmond unbuckled himself and grabbed the two small luggage bags behind his seat and opened the door. He leaned the luggage bags against the car and pulled the duffle bag that was tucked under his seat up and over his shoulder before closing the door. His mom rolled down the windows, “I’ll be right back, I think they have space in their garage.” She smiled again.  

He huffed up the stairs and knocked on the large door twice.

“Who is it~?” came Merry’s voice.

Desmond cleared his throat, “Desmond? Meegan said today I could move in?”

“Oh yeah!” The door unlocked quickly and Merry's bright pastel shirt and shin length white skirt waved slightly in the wind.  “Meegan started clearing out your new room after you left five days ago, she said it was super messy because Jacque just threw in all of their books and papers in. It was really bad. But she cleaned it out and put everything in her alcove next to your guys’ rooms.” Desmond nodded blankly as Merry lead him inside.

“My mom's waiting outside…” He prompted gesturing vaguely behind him.

“Oh, no worries, I’ll open the garage for her. C’mon, Jacque, we’re gonna help!”

Jacque groaned from the kitchen, walking through the dining room with a waffle in her hand. “Oi, don’t volunteer me for things!”

Merry huffed, her hands going to her hips, “We’re going shopping for furniture, paint, and other things today and we need all the help we can get now to do that faster!”

“I thought we had online stuff for that!” Jacque groaned again, as Desmond sneaked passed Merry and headed downstairs. He waved at Meegan from where she stood in the door to the garage, he saw the front of his mom’s car pull in.

Meegan sighed as she heard them yelling, “Are they fighting again?”

Desmond nodded, “Yeah, something about shopping?”

Meegan nodded, “Our furniture catalogs had great options, but the shipping was super high since it was all coming from New York, so we’re going to find a department and furniture store to finished getting settled.”

“Okay, can I move my stuff into the room?” Desmond gestured to his bags.

“Yeah, I’ll help with moving your luggage, we can unpack later, Don’ll be back in about an hour or so.” 

Desmond’s mother walked in, “Are we ready to go?”

“Of course, ma’am. I’m Meegan Choke.”

“Ah, Schoke, I was wondering since it’s not spelled like that. I’m Genesis Troy, and you’re the troop leader?” Meegan blinked up at the tan woman.

“Yes, ma’am. Donald Harris and I lead the...troop.” Meegan finished haltingly. “Anyway, hopefully, our two, well, former two youngest residences will stop fighting and come help US OUT DOWN HERE!” Meegan called out, turning her head towards the stairs, just as Merry came stomping down, dragging a stumbling Jacque behind her.

“We’re HERE!” Merry called out, smiling wide. “Hello, Mrs. Troy! I’m Merry, this grump is Jacque!” Merry walked up to Desmond’s mother, holding out her hand for her to shake.

Mrs. Troy smiled, “Nice to meet you, Merry. And you too, Jack.”

Merry beamed at her as Desmond walked from the hallway, “I got those in there, I guess I’m shopping for a bed?”

Meegan turned, “Yep, besides me, we all need one.”

Mrs. Troy raised her eyebrows, “You’ve been sleeping on the floor?” Merry shook her head.

“I have a tatami mat and padding to sleep on, Jacque doesn’t like beds and has a little Jacque nest, and Don has friends in town that he stays with.” 

Jacque huffed, “It’s not a nest…”

She nodded, obviously visible confused, “Okay, well, let’s get everything unloaded, I can stop by later if Desmond forgets anything.”

They all nodded, except Jacque who grunted as she scrolled through her phone. They all moved various sizes of boxes, as well as a large stack of small, 8 inch boxes, and large suitcases full of both clothes and a few cases for instruments.

“I have two guitars, two pianos, a cello, a trumpet, a drum set, and a lot of mix tables and other composing equipment.” He said after Jacque glared down at another instrument case and Merry struggled to push the piano on wheels through the living room.

Jacque squinted her eyes before lifting the case, Desmond squeaking loudly that it was heavy before staring wide-eyed as Jacque carried the 50-pound keyboard in one arm, lifted to rest on her shoulder, and continued to eat her granola bar in the other. She didn’t seem to struggle as she walked passed Meegan who shot up two thumbs up at Jacque as she walked by.

Merry giggled at his look, “She’s a lot stronger than she looks, she’s just too lazy to show it.”

Desmond nodded slightly, staring again when she walked out from the hall went to the kitchen, he heard the fridge open and then Jacque walked out with a soda.

"Well, that seems to be it, dame un beso.” Mrs. Troy pulled Desmond into her arms, despite his long hiss of ‘ maaaaaaa, mama no.’ Merry giggled at his bright red face, before grabbing Jacque and running upstairs just as Meegan looked away as her phone played a soft melody.

“Don’s here.” She announced, loudly for the two girls upstairs to hear her.

“That’s my cue. I’ll stop by later to see if you need anything.” She kissed Desmond’s head again before leaving, waving as she backed out of the garage. She waved from the curb and pulled away, with Don pulling into the garage.  Meegan walked back to her room before returning with her over-the-shoulder bag, Merry and Jacque both coming from where they disappeared upstairs with their own small backpacks.

“Sup, girls? Sup, McVest.” Desmond blushed slightly, tugging his sweater vest down a bit. “Get in, fashion disasters, we’re going shopping.” Meegan chuckled before walking around the car and getting in passenger's seat. Merry and Desmond climbed into the back and Jacque groaned loudly again before climbing in next to Merry, who got pushed to the middle.

“Where to first?” Meegan asked Don.

“Gurl, if I had my way, shoes, but I need the best night bed money can offer, so furniture.” Don turned on the radio, a 90’s pop hit playing from the speakers as he backed out of the garage, Meegan pushing the button on her set of keys closing the door behind them. Don went down the street, passing through the curve at the end to continue straight down until he got to the highway and turned left on to it.

Meegan pulled up her bag, pulling out a list, but settling back. Don continued down the highway.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Desmond asked.

“Mmhmm, boy, I scoped out the place, there’s a furniture store next to the mall, good selection, that’s where we’re going.” He slowed down to merge onto a smaller road, the entire surrounding area was grassy meadows and lone apartment complexes until any semblance of a city came into view with the store on the right. Don pulled into the parking lot while the rest of the gang climbed out of the car.

“Okay team, before we go in, we will pick out the dining set, the living room set, and the downstairs living set. Then desks and chairs for the rest of the house. After that, you are free to decorate your rooms.” Meegan looked up from her paper to see Desmond nodding at her, Jacque staring at her phone while texting slowly, Merry swaying while humming, and Don taking selfies. She sighed, before snapping her fingers rapidly. “EY! Let’s go.” She turned on her heels and walked into the store.

Meegan walked confidently to the living room area, the rest of the team following her. “Colors?”

Don whistled slight, “Girl, we want to exude elegance and maturity without sacrificing youth. So neutral tones, with accents of warm colors like red or orange. We want sofas with 2 or 5 seats, dining chairs in dark brown leather, a deep brown table for the dining room,  We also need to get dining sets and artworks. To distract the fact that we don't have photos to frame.”

Meegan nodded, “Okay, let's find some furniture that fits all of us.” They walked into the store, finding the living room area. Jacque plopped down on a tan sofa, it was just plush enough to sink into but not enough to cause discomfort. Don sat down on a chaise lounge sofa with a soft leather back and smooth cloth upholstery. They glared at each other but Meegan just nodded. “Don’s can go downstairs but Jacque’s has the homey feel we want. And we'll also grab the two matching couches for each. Merry picked out those matching chairs, and Desmond found a similar ottoman.” 

Jacque grunted, “I want a red sofa in my room. And I need two desks for my room. And a bookcase.”

Meegan sighed, “Go with Don to check out personal furniture. I'll go with Dez and Merry to look at their beds. Don, your… daybed came in last night, so you'll get it tomorrow. Jacque, you didn't put in your request so…”

“I don't need the bed. A bed. I'm getting the swinging net and pillows. And a sofa bed. I need space for the computer shit.” Jacque huffed before following Don. Meegan shook her head before turning back to Desmond and...not Merry. 

“Crap, MERRY!” Meegan called out, shrugging at a worker who glared at her. “Sorry…”

Merry skipped over, holding a chest with flower decorations, “I want this, and there’s a cool bed with like drawers and storage areas, and I want it in white with green sheets…” Merry said breathlessly. 

“Okay, okay, but don’t run- MERRY!” Merry ran quickly after dropping the chest, just as Jacque wandered over holding order papers, “Yes?”

Jacque looked up at her, before shaking her head back, her hair flipping back out of her face. “I got my furniture… a sofa for my room, my chair, and a bookcase… Can I go home now?”

Meegan sighed, rubbing her nose with her hand. “No, go sit somewhere while Dez and I go look around… keep an eye out for Merry?” She walked away, gesturing to Desmond as they walked into the store. 

Desmond raised his hand towards her, “Is there a price limit?”

Meegan nodded, “Yeah, the cheaper your bed, the more money you have left over. We were given 5 thousand each, a bonus if you will, and I was given 10000 for team expenses, and 5 thousand of that is now yours.”

Desmond gaped at her, “F...five? Thousand? Really? I mean, I…”

“It’s a lot, I know, but this is 5000 thousand for anything, like Jacque, just a moment,” She looked down at the papers Jacque had handed to her, “She only spent 950 dollars, so she probably won’t go over 1050. So the rest of that is hers. So, you spend less now, then you receive a bonus over your next 5 paychecks.”

Desmond nodded, “Okay. I can do this.” He glanced at her before walking into bed department. He checked  all the prices, before finding a plain brown frame low to the floor and firm but still soft mattress. He took note of the names and item numbers before wandering to the furniture area. He occasionally saw Merry grabbing papers on vaguely Asian-inspired decorations as he looked around. He found some music inspired decorations, including a large light up music scale, and maps that were to be framed for his room. He settled on plain white wooden pieces, a small desk, a small side table, and a tall white dresser, and short wicker chair with a brown cushion. 

He wandered back to Meegan, “You good, Dez?”

He nodded, “I think this is it.” He handed her his paper and stared at Merry’s stack of papers. 

Meegan sighed sadly, “And she still spent just under 800 dollars.”

Merry smiled brightly, “We gotta get the best beds for all my babies! And I want a storage for them too!”

“Isn’t the same 5 chests storage enough?”

“Those are for all of us!” Merry squawked back at Jacque.

Don walked over to the group, handing Meegan two pieces of notebook paper. “That’s all my stuff, lady leader.”

Meegan gasped audibly at the list, “This is like 3000 dollars worth of stuff!”

Don huffed at her, “Gurl, I need nothing but the best. I’ll be in the car.” He sashayed away as Meegan looked to the ceiling.

She inhaled and walked quickly towards the help desk and placed all of things on order, smiling at the employee who stared back a group of teens ordering thousands of dollars worth of furniture and storage on 5 debit cards, after confirming their identities and two calls to a bank, Meegan and the rest of the group walked out to the SUV, buckling themselves in as Don pulled out of the parking space.

“To the mall!” He sang out as he drove to the nearby mall. Jacque groaned loudly but didn’t comment. 

“Okay,” Meegan started, “We spent… way too long in there. So… please, just get your stuff and let’s go.” She walked into the two-story suburban mall, sighing quickly to herself as the entire group split up. Merry ran to the pet store, while Desmond walked into a guitar store, Jacque wandered off to the food court while Don sped elegantly to Macy’s. She herself went to the bookstore and browsed, before find a new YA novel about a strong woman who has to time travel and save her father from a supernatural force. She found a nice corner in the bookstore to sit down and read.

Almost 20 minutes later, her phone buzzed with an incoming call. “Hello?”

“Ey, we’re done. Merry got a bunch of pet stuff, Don’s got another receipt longer than my height, I got a mango smoothie and the nerd got like music shit or something.” Jacque’s bored monotone said from her phone.

“Okay, I’ll meet you guys by the car.” She grabbed her small stack of books next to her before leaving the mall. She walked out to the car, fairly far from the entrance, only to stop behind the car to watch Merry shove over 15 bags into the trunk. 

“Hiya Meegan! I got pet stuff!” Merry cheered at her.

“I can see that.” Meegan inhaled slightly. “One more stop for the day, paint. We’re also getting rugs, but I think Don picked them out.” 

Don nodded, glancing at them from his phone, “Yeah, real chic.” He put his phone away and starting the car, Meegan and Merry climbing into the car, a few bags being put under seats. He pulled out of the mall parking lot and headed to the nearby paint outlet store. Meegan took in a deep breath, a headache forming behind her head at Merry’s chatter behind her and Don’s loud humming next to her. 

Don pulled into the parking lot of the Samuel-Wilkins paint store and they all got out of the car again. Merry skipped ahead,

“I want green!” Followed by a slower Jacque and Desmond, with Meegan and Don pulling up the rear.

Walking into the store, that thankfully didn’t smell like paint, they all wandered around the walls of paints and rolls of wallpaper.

“Welcome, can I help you?” An attendant asked, smiling softly at the group of teens.

“Yes, thank you. I was wondering if you could matching this paint?” Meegan pulled out her phone with the picture of the walls in her room. 

The woman pulled out a palette and went about matching it, before setting on “I would say that would be the closest to Greek Villa, but if we’re wrong, we can do a full refund and find a better match for half the cost.”

Meegan nodded, smiling back. “Thank you.” Before walking away. She walked over to the white section before picking out a bright paper white and softer light gray and leaf printed wallpaper, also white. She found the wallpaper for her bathroom  and kitchen, one wallpaper having a stenciled city on it and the other with gray, light black, and white birds on it. The wallpapers themselves being a pale yellowish tan.

She looked over and saw Desmond walking over with a sky blue paint. He smiled at her before standing next to her as they sought out Don, who was in charge of the living room and dining room. 

He walked over to them, smiling wide. “We’re going with a pale tan in the living room, warm up the place to match the furniture. And the same in the kitchen, to brighten up the counters and cabinets. I settled on a bright white for the upstairs areas, to keep everything bright and open. For my room, I got this paneled wallpaper, really professional. And this deep brown with streaks in it, giving it a wood look for my bathroom.”

Jacque walked over and dumped roles of forest patterned wallpaper on the ground. “This is mine.” Before slouching over her phone. Merry skipped over to her with a bamboo forest wallpaper and light green paint, smiling brightly. 

Meegan nodded, “Okay, and for the back room?” she raised her eyebrows rapidly at Jacque, who groaned back at her before walking away and coming back quickly with two cans of dark non-reflective black paint. Meegan nodded and went up to pay, the net total just under 250 dollars. They stocked outside, putting their purchases in the car before finally driving home.

Jacque lightly snored in the back, while Merry hummed on her phone. Desmond was texting his mom that he was done, having spent 4 hours shopping it was about 4 pm and she was on her way to pick him up for an early dinner. 

Meegan’s phone rang loudly, startling Jacque awake. “Hello? Oh, hi. Yes. We’re about 2 minutes out. Thank you.” She ended the quick call before turning to Desmond, “Your bed was in stock, so the movers are at our place now to put it in, that and a few of the couches… and Jacque’s hammock and ‘car’? Jacque, what did you do…”

Jacque mumbled something in agreement, before falling back asleep. Don pulled up and parked on the curb as the large moving truck sat in their driveway. Meegan got out quickly to open the garage, showing the movers where to move the bed and the downstairs living room. 

Jacque and Merry walked up the stairs to the main entrance, Merry running around to the animals cages and letting them all outside to their pens. Jacque stumbled into the kitchen to grab a snack and Meegan came up the stairs to toss her the bag with her hammock in it as well as putting a large box of pillows by the stairs. 

“MERRY!” Meegan bellowed towards the back sliding doors, Merry coming up the porch to stare back at her, “Your stuff’ll be in tomorrow and shipped later tomorrow night. Jacque’s couch and Don’s furniture and night and day beds will be in the day after next, along with the rest of the furniture. I figure we start painting tomorrow during the day. Desmond’s staying here tonight since his bed came on time. We’re having pasta tonight, so wash up!” 

Jacque grabbed her stuff, her hammock under her left arm and the right arm holding the box propped up on her shoulder and walked upstairs. Merry smiled brightly and called an “okay!” before running back outside. Don stepped in the living from downstairs, staring at Meegan, his eyebrow raised.

Meegan looked back at him, “Did you hear what I was telling them?”

“Yeah,” he replied before sighing, “Do I have to stay for dinner? Chris and the boys are having an Akuma III marathon… my barbarian is now at Shiyou 340…”

“I don’t know what that means…” Meegan replied as Jacque came downstairs with two pillows and a hamlet.

“My Japanese is rusty, but it’s something about a demon and a...model or level?” Jacque mumbled at them before collapsing onto the thrift couch, burying her face into the pillows, setting her helmet by the couch.

Don rolled his eyes, “It’s a game, and I’d have a bed, Chris’ brother moved out last week, that’s where I’ve been sleeping, I told Merry this…”

Meegan sighed, “Fine, but be home tomorrow morning, we have an exercise in teamwork we have to do.” Don nodded before walking upstairs to grab his bag and clothes for tomorrow. 

Jacque groaned into the pillows, “Exercise suck~”  causing Meegan to sigh again, for the hundredth time today.

“Yeah, and so does being relocated because we can’t work together. Suck it up, buttercup.” Meegan said slightly too loud, startling Merry as she came in.

“What’s happening?”

“Nothing. Can you come grab the regular tomato sauce and alfredo sauce for dinner? There should be a jar of homemade sauces in the fridge.” Meegan wandered into the kitchen, ignoring Jacque’s huff.

“Sure, let me wash my hands first!” Merry hurried upstairs to change and wash her hands.

Dinner was ready in 30 minutes, with just Jacque, Merry, and Meegan eating in relative silence. It was quieter still until the front door knocked twice. Meegan got up, using a napkin to clean her face before walking over to the door, “Who is it?”

“Uh, me? Desmond...Desmond Troy…” Came Desmond’s voice. Meegan cursed under her breath before opening the door, “Hi…”

“Sorry, Dez, I forgot to give you your key, give me a moment. If you’re hungry we got spaghetti, with alfredo and red sauces, if you aren't too full from dinner with your mom.” Meegan rushed downstairs as Desmond walked into the dining room and served himself some spaghetti. He smiled at Merry and nodded at Jacque. 

Meegan walked back up the stairs, “Here, this is your key to the house.” Desmond nodded and took it, hooking it onto his key ring that held the keys to the band room, his band locker, his other house key, and the key to his bike lock.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. The movers had everything set up in your room and downstairs, so you can organize your stuff tonight, we have a big day tomorrow.”

“We do?”

Meegan nodded, “Yep, we have an exercise in teamwork, to better show you what we do and set a baseline for you. We’re a team, we do team things. Like…” She paused staring at them all, Jacque with her sneer, Merry with her bright eyes, and Desmond with his confused furrow.

“Basic training.” She paused for dramatic effect before Jacque yawned.

“Boring~ Me and Merry are gonna take my new wheels around the block.” Merry cheered before putting her plate in the kitchen and skipping over to the couch and quickly grabbing the helmet and sprinting to the door. She bounced in place for Jacque who strolled to the door. Meegan sighed and glanced at Desmond in aspiration before getting up too. 

By the time they both walked out the front door, they heard Merry squealing in joy and a loud beeping interjected by Jacque own car engine noises.

In the dark, they saw two small and faint headlights before Meegan turned on the porch light and revealed a small battery powered kids SUV, and Merry wearing the helmet as Jacque did donuts in the street. Merry sat in the back holding onto Jacque’s shoulders, both of the girls’ legs bunched up as they essentially squatted in the car.

“Vroom Vroom, Meegan, got us a new set of wheels for under 300 buck-a-roos!” Jacque cackled before screaming slightly as she and Merry hit the curb and flipped out of the car. Meegan gasped before rolling her eyes as they got up and scrambled back into the car, this time, Merry driving rapidly as Jacque waved her arms in excitement.

Meegan groaned, rubbing her forehead with two fingers as Desmond chuckled under his breath, taking pictures on his phone. “Okay then… yep… just adults here… no. problem…“

Desmond smiled to himself, ignoring the nervous feeling about moving into a house of strangers.... strange strangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP! THIS IS THE MOST RECENT CHAPTER! GOING FURTHER MEANS ENTERING THE NOW DEFUNCT CHAPTERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.


	7. Team Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some team bonding!

[Setting: Merry and Meegan have decided to give Desmond a few more quick tours of the house. Desmond, exhausted, sits down at the brown table in the small kitchenette in the basement.]

Desmond’s head thumped against the table. “What have I gotten myself into?” He grumbled.

“Okay!” Merry shouted. “It’s time to show the new guy all the no-touchy-my-stuff areas!” Grabbing Desmond’s arm, and ignoring his groan of exhaustion, Merry ran to the garage. “Starting here, do not touch any of the tools, or mess with any of the various tools on the tables or in the roll-cabinets. Those are Jacque’s, mostly, and it’s how we fix any gadgets or doohickeys that we break or just to change tires on the Super-Awesome-Team-Car-of-Greatness!”

“When did we decide on that lame-ass name?” They both jumped, looking over to the pile of papers on the workstation, seeing it move —then shudder―before finally collapsing, revealing Jacque.

“We decided it…or rather; Hawkins and Meegan picked it, on the way to the house…” Merry said, hands on her hips. “You’d know that, if you weren't sleeping all the time!” She harrumphed, pulling Desmond up the stairs. “Dinner in ten! Make sure you make your favorite food! Team exercise!” She called down.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” They heard on thump, and then snores.

“Okay, now in here. Meegan doesn’t know, but don’t touch under any seat. I have daggers under most of them, just in case. In the fridge, don’t open the jar of Jalapeño and Banana Mayonnaise jar, it hold six small IEDs. Ummm… In the bathroom drain, there are two flash grenades, and ANY bowl of peanuts has one 6-round pistol inside… I don’t have anything in the radiators yet, I’ll let you know. Any questions?” Merry went around pointing at all of the items, before staring at Desmond’s white face. “Okay, moving on!”

Desmond’s mind was blank, no thoughts ran through it has he tried his best to process the information.

“Now, in the main lobby here, I only have 3 hidden tools. In the fish tank, there is smoke bomb. Under the Foosball table, there is small pistol, and in the closet there is a rifle. Jacque said she’d do the rest, but I’ve never seen her hide anything, so I don’t know what she did.” Merry shrugged. “In the dining room, I only have two throwing stars in the China Case, but the kitchen is where it gets good.”  She cackled.

“Uhhh… Maybe I should go, you know, get settled in?” Desmond whispered, his face sweating with fear.

“No, you need to stay awake for dinner. It’ll be good. Besides, you wouldn’t want to miss this!” Merry drug him in, throwing him onto the tall bar stool. “So, I have 6 grenades, 2 machetes, 1 pistol, 2 hand guns, 1 rifle, and 15 different poisons in here, all hidden from view! The best part is, no one would ever think of where they are!” She laughed loudly.

“The grenades are in lower cabinets 1, 4, and 7. The machetes are in the knife drawer―under the separator. The pistol is in the peanut bowl, one hand gun is in the plant, one is behind fridge. The rifle is the closet-cabinet-tall-thingy, and the poisons are all chemical based, except the nightshade.  Stick with the classics, and everyone will know.” Jacque sighed, as she walked in to grab a juice. She poured some into a small plastic cup, turning around, she took a sip while staring ―eyebrow cocked― at the two staring wide-eyed and mouth open at her.

Merry gaped at her, “How did you know? Are you a genius? Did someone send you to kill me? Do I have to kill you? What do you know?” Merry shook Jacque shoulders back and forth, screaming into her face. Jacque dropped the small cup, it landed with a small sound on the ground, leaking the liquid.

“Chill out, Crazy Lady! You said it all out loud, in like, German or something!” Jacque shoved her back. “You made me spill my apple juice!” She whined, staring forlorn down at the spilled liquid.

“Oh.” Merry said, her face flaming up. She coughed, and dropped the kitchen towel over the liquid, she rubbed at the linoleum with her foot.

“Whatever.” Jacque’s face went back to neutral, as she grabbed the whole container of the golden juice and walked around the counters, and up the stairs. Merry sighed, dropping down to finish cleaning the mess.

Desmond gazed after her, Merry stood suddenly, shaking her head. She tossed the towel into the laundry basket in the corner of the kitchen, and turned to Desmond.

“Shall we go on with the tour, Desmond?” She walked up stairs after Jacque. Pointing to her right, Merry said sternly, “Don’t go into that room if you can help it, that just for us. Meegan, Jacque, and I work on mission strategies and stuff. It’s pretty small in there anyway, but, also, in there are sixteen different styles of daggers and two small swords.” She pointed to the large table in the middle of the room. “Anyway, that bowl on the table has a Taser in it, and the bathroom has a shotgun in it.” Merry said. “I know Don has a baseball bat in his room, but once again, Jacque is a mystery…My room is off-limits and will remain that way!” She called at Jacque’s closed door.

“Okay…” Desmond trailed off, his shoulders slumped in awe. “Are there any… things… in my ro-”

“DINNER!” Meegan called from downstairs.  “Get your lazy butts down here!”

“OHHH! We get to have our first meal as a full TEAM!”  Merry squealed, running to Jacque’s door and banging on it repeatedly. “HURRY UP, JACQUE!” Merry seized Desmond and dashed downstairs. Running to her seat, she plopped down and smiled up at Meegan. They all waited as the thumping of Jacque was heard coming down the stairs. They turned and watched as she slipped on the last step, fell forward, squeaked (manly, of course) and landed on her hands. She lied there for a moment, before getting up and sitting opposite of Merry.

The silence continued and Jacque raised an eyebrow. “Well? Continue.”

Meegan sighed. “Well, Don isn’t he-” The door slammed opened, then quietly shut. Don walked in, stared at Meegan, before groaning and sitting at the table. “Never mind that! Welcome to the first Team 109 Dinner-Bonanza! Present by Hawkins and Meegan! Sponsored by- Hawkins…” Meegan whispered into Hawkins’…fork-ness… “Who did you get as sponsor? NO ONE? What in the Alex and Dear Grand Bell were you doing last night? I had to listen to you chatter on the phone for 2 hours!” Meegan hissed at Hawkins.

“Is the phone bill a team thing or can I assume she’s gonna just pay for her own crazy charges?” Jacque asked, her chin resting in her hand as she lazily watched Meegan whisper harshly at the plastic ware.

Meegan cleared her throat. “Moving on, I asked you guy to prepare your favorite dishes, so we can all get to know each other better.”

Don hissed, “Crap!” He coughed slightly, “I…uhh…left mine in the car? I’ll be back.” He grabbed his keys from the bowl by the door, and rushed outside. They heard the car start, rev, and squeal down the road.

“I’m just gonna say, that he might not come back.” Jacque toned out. Meegan groaned.

“CONTINUING, Jacque, since you are full of helpful insight, why don’t you go first.” Jacque groaned, before walking into the kitchen. The fridge opened, closed, and Jacque walked back into the room with a large pan.

“This is baklava. It’s phyllo dough, with layered anything, normally nuts and honey. This is a not. This has ground pork. Normally made with onions, I hate onions. Fucking enjoy it.” Jacque said, showing off the lightly tanned crust on top. Desmond raised his hand, Jacque snarled, “This isn’t kindergarten! What?”

“Umm… Where is this from?” Desmond squeaked.

“It’s European. This version is more based on a Greek version…” Jacque sighed, “It’s a meal found throughout Europe, and it’s amazing.”

“I want some!” Merry called out.

“Wait! Let’s see the other foods too! Merry?” Meegan asked.

“OH! Yeah!” Merry hopped up, running for the freezer. She pulled out tray with cups on them. “I made smoothies! Every fruit flavor in every cup!” She squealed.The team stared down at the brown, icy liquid, Jacque sniffing it. “Meegan, it’s your turn!” Merry smiled brightly at the still confused Meegan.

“Ummm, yeah. Okay, I made chocolate scones, with lemon!” Meegan shouted, running to the kitchen, she ran back in with a plate. “Desmond, since we didn’t tell you about tonight, what’s your favorite food?”

Desmond opened his mouth, but the door slamming open stopped him. Don ran in with a bag of Burger Prince’s food. “I’m back…from my car…” He dropped the warm bag on the table.

“I’m hungry, is show-and-tell over yet?” Jacque groaned out. She reached over and grabbed a scone.  Meegan stood up and walked over to the counter and grabbed 6 plates. Putting one in front of the team, herself, and Hawkins, who was resting a stack of pillows, she made her way back to the kitchen for silverware.  After all the messing were passed around: Jacque grabbing another scone, a cheeseburger from the BP bag, and a large piece of baklava; Merry grabbing a scone, some fries, and a smaller piece of baklava; Meegan taking two scones, a cheeseburger, and a moderately sized piece baklava; Don grabbing two cheeseburgers, some fries, a scone, and took a chunk of baklava; Desmond staring widely at the fast proceedings, before snagging the last burger, a few fries, the last scone, and the last piece of baklava.

They all quickly ate the BP burgers before staring down at the rest of the makeshift meal. Jacque, who was humming to herself, grabbed one of her scones and shoving it in her mouth. She hummed again around the chocolatey treat. The rest of the team looked down at their plates before grabbing a scone. Meegan shook in excitement as they all took a bite of the sweet dessert. They all sighed at the taste, shoving bigger bites into their mouths

“Normally,” She started, “I would frown upon dessert first, but considering I tried to make them as more of breakfast and less of a-” She was cut off by Jacque.

“Hush woman, I am trying to enjoy my food!” Jacque groaned out. She pushed her other scone to the side of her plate. Jacque began to cut at her baklava.  She quickly began to eat. Merry tried to cut it like her, but she just squished the layers together. She whined, watching as everyone slowly began to eat the tall squares. “Just eat it!” Jacque hissed. The room was quiet besides the squeaks of forks and occasional humming in enjoyment.

Finally, as Meegan laid down her fork, wiping at Hawkins’ drawn face, she looked at the tall glass of brown, icy liquid. She gently took a sip before pushing it away. “Too sweet!” She declared. Merry’s eyes watered as Don and Desmond also took a drink before declaring it tooth-rotting. Jacque stared down into the brown abyss.

“Is there real cherries in this?”

Merry sniffed, “No...” Jacque nodded, taking a drink. She smiled brightly. She downed the drink, and grabbed at Meegan’s unfinished cup. Merry clapped, drinking her own. Desmond and Meegan flinched at the two girls as they both froze and moaned loudly. Jacque grabbed at her head, hissing loudly in Russian. Merry cried out, “What have I done to deserve such a punishment?” Don sighed and shook his head at them.

“Are we done know? I have Cry of Service gaming night, so...” Don got up out of seat and left for the stairs. “Let me know when our next dinner night is!”

Jacque stood, “I have codes to write for our new firefall.” Jacque brought her plate and cup to the kitchen.

Merry, Desmond and Meegan watched her go.

“I think this was an accomplishment for us!” Meegan said, clapping her hands once, and picking up Hawkins.

Merry watched her, “Do you want to go watch TV? I think Outlaw Wisdom is on!” They both squealed. Desmond watched as they ran to the other room. He sighed, and picked up all the plates and glasses and brought them into the kitchen. He walked back into the dining room and looked over at the two girls on the couch in front of the TV. He shuffled into the room, and sat down at the edge of the couch.

“Is this that show with the completely exaggerated skills of human intelligence? My mom watches this...so do the ladies at her salon...” Desmond stared at the television. Neither Merry or Meegan responded, their eyes large and unblinking at the TV show. “Oh...Kay...” He stood up, and walked downstairs. He walked over to his room and sat on his small bed. He sat there for a little while longer, staring at the blank walls before falling back on his bed. He listened to the sounds of muffled giggles that overpowered the sounds of the police procedural show, the occasional shout from Don as he killed someone with loud bullets, and the violent curses from Jacque as she supposedly worked on setting up their firewall. His eyes slowly fluttered shut.

‘What have I gotten myself into...and what was in that smoothie?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skittles, skittles were in that smoothie. Skittle Smoothies are SO SWEET and half the time give you sugar headaches.


	8. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry plans a nice training day for the team. The team doesn't approve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! I'd say we would be more regular, but that would be a lie. We have about 10 stories all lined up, but we (read Jackee) keeps adding things!

(Setting: Merry, under order from The Boss, has decided to plan a training/evaluation day for the team.)

“Okay, after breakfast, we have to do your guys’ training evaluations- And before you ask, yes you too, Jacque.”  Merry announced.  Jacque huffed around her mouthful of pancakes.

“Do I have to? I’m not really a member...”  Desmond asked, eyes squinting at Jacque as she stole Meegan’s pancakes.

“Yeah, The Boss said everyone...Don...DON...Where are you-” The front door slammed shut.  Merry sighed, slapping Jacque’s hand as it came for her pancakes.  “Okay, dress in your training clothes- Just work out clothes for Desmond and Meegan- and meet me in the garage.”

“Is there enough room in there? What are we doing in the garage?”  Desmond padded after Meegan after Jacque and Merry walked downstairs.

“No, we’re gonna do this below the garage.”  Meegan chirped, grabbing Hawkins and skipping downstairs.

“...What?”  Desmond stared after Meegan. He sighed before walked downstairs to put on some sweats and t-shirt.

Ten minutes later he was standing in the back of the garage, slightly cold from the morning air. He and Meegan were in plain sweats while Jacque and Merry were wearing what looked like new age martial arts clothing.

“Okay, Desmond, don’t freak out.”  Merry said, walking to the back of the garage, passed the small work shop and into the back room behind that.  She lifted a small panel next to Desmond’s little room filled with his instruments, and revealed a sleek number pad and punched in a 48 digit code that seemed to last ages. Desmond’s eyes grew huge, his mouth falling open.

“Merry, I thought the code was just 100109, that’s what the Boss set it too.” Meegan said trying to see the numbers she was punching in.

“That wasn’t safe enough! There is no way for ANYONE to memorize this on the first try. I’ll give it to you later.”

“4447777#8443377733#26699...” Jacque began to rattle off, her voice monotone.

“Jacque, STOP THAT!” Jacque chuckled as Merry pouted. The previously empty space swooshed open with a rush of air once she finished typing them in.

“Welcome to the entrance to the Central Command, dipwad.”  Jacque said to Desmond, walking into the the bright room.  The room was small, cork floors and crème-colored walls, with a small row of cubbies on the far wall, and large, stainless steel doors on the right.

“The...the...what?”  Desmond stuttered, mildly resisting as Meegan pushed him into the room.

“Don’t worry, the CC isn’t here, just a...109 base! Or as I call it ‘The Training Hall’” Merry smiled.

“Don’t think you’re helping.” Jacque snickered, pushing the only button next to the steel doors, a down arrow.

“Here is my least favorite part...”  Merry whispered, staring at the doors as they dinged open.  Meegan and Merry both slowly creeped their ways to the small elevator.  Jacque groaned, impatiently tapping her foot on the white floor of the elevator.

“Hurry up!  My shows are on later and I want to see if Bianka finds out that Wiktoria is her mother not her older sister...”  Jacque stared back at the wide eyes of the others. “What? It is quality entertainment! F-you guys.”  Jacque huffed. Merry and Meegan stepped into the elevator.  Jacque pushed the down button and the elevator shifted up then down, Merry screamed. “Oh my GOD! CALM THE HELL DOWN!” Jacque screamed back. Meegan put her hands to her ears, humming loudly. Desmond’s eyes were wide and was starting to hyperventilate as the elevator dinged and came to a stop.

“Okay, time to go!” Merry sprinted out of the elevator, running into the table in front of the elevator and knocking over the decorative bowl of marbles.

“Damn crazy...” Jacque mumbled as she walked out passed Merry, who was quickly picking up the multi-colored marbles, followed by Desmond and Meegan.

“I don’t think I shou-” Desmond was about to turn back around but was stopped by Meegan who just pushed him along.

“You’re coming Dez, like it or not. We all have to suffer this... together.” She mumbled the last part under her breath. She really didn’t like this, Merry got a little crazy when it came to weapons, just a little.

They entered the control panel room and spread out.

“What exactly is this place?” Desmond asked as he looked around.

“This is where we train. Well, we’ll start training here from now on.” Merry said opening a series of cabinets and drawers drawing out four notebooks and what seemed to be at least a dozen or so pens, and some discs and four mics. Jacque walked over and picked up a mic to inspect it as Merry continued her explanation, mainly for Desmond’s sake. “I have to test your abilities to see what weapons you are allowed to use, well, ‘we’ since I have to evaluate myself too. But that is just for regulated filing since The Boss knows I know how to work all the weapons that I’m testing you on. That’s actually the reason I am allowed to test you, otherwise we’d all have to go to the CC and that would be... well, not bad but I don’t like how they test us there. I found more creative ways to do your testing. By the way The Boss said we have to do this twice a year.”

“Define creative.” Jacque squinted at her and tilted her head up, paused, then tilted it down.

“You’ll see.” Merry smiled widely, causing Jacque to raise her brows.

“Again, do I have to be here? I am not an on field member of the team.” Desmond looked as if he was being asked to walk on flaming coal.

“But you are, Dez.” Meegan turned to look at him.

“Since when?”

“Didn’t you read the terms of agreement on the contract?”

“No one ever reads that.”

“How about the fine print towards the bottom?”

“There was fine print?!” Meegan sighed covering her face with her hand.

“Yes Dez, it said you were also agreeing upon participation on field missions.”

“Um, is there some way, I could... you know... take that part back?” Meegan smiled and shook her head.

“Okay...” He stood there, promising himself he’d read the fine print next time. This was all still pretty new to him. Three weeks in and he was still surprised every day at all the things he learned. Like yesterday he found out there is a flame thrower under a loose tile in the floor in the living room... Best not to mention HOW he found out.

“Ok, Meegan would you like to lead this in? Since I already told you the main details of what we’re doing.” Merry asked as she fixed in her head set and started looking through folders.

“She KNOWS?! Why does she know and we don’t?”

“Leader.” Was all Merry mumbled, now Jacque was worried. Meegan smirked.

“Ok, team head sets in, I’ll have control number one, Merry has two, Jacque three, Desmond four.” Meegan handed them small ear pieces and wristbands that matched. “You know how to operate these right?” They all nodded except Desmond. “Dez, the bands hold numbers, punch in the number you want and you’ll communicate with the headset that number belongs to. Once you push it the number blinks green. Press again to disconnect. You can communicate with as many headsets as you want. We only have ten so up to ten.” Desmond nodded. It seemed simple enough.

“Kay, found the files.” Merry looked up, “Everyone make sure the headsets work.” They all did.

“Ok so the way this is going to work is a trial and error type thing, in the main hall.” Merry pointed to the room, “Jacque, the Boss showed us some of the things we can do with that room through the control room. Dezy, you’ll see, you get to watch Meegan go first on the first trial, then you’ll get the hang of it. Consider it a life-size video game.” Desmond nodded warily, considering if he could take them down if he made a run for the door.

“Meegan in. We’ll start with the wall climbing.” Meegan nodded. As they turned to the room they saw a wall rise from nowhere in the floor. Meegan walked into the room and closed the glass door after herself. It looked like a modified half pipe, with one side being 3 or 4 times taller than the other side.

“Ok, So Merry what exactly is the assignment here?” Meegan asked turning on her mic and looking at the wall.

“Meegan, you have 120 seconds to get over the wall.”

“Merry, no, lower it. The average wall jump is a six foot one, that one seems to be at least ten feet.” Meegan stared at it. Maybe more...

“Actually it is a 12 and your time starts in 10... 9...”

“Merry, I said no”

“5... 4...”

“Merry!”

“2... START!”

“God!” Meegan rolled her eyes at the stubborn girl at the other side of the window, and ran towards the wall, she pushed off with her leading foot at the base of the wall and her finger tips touched just below the top of the wall. She let go and slid down, she then ran to her starting point pivoted and ran full speed again. Not even conscious of how she got her hands above the edge, she made sure she had a firm grasp in place, she forced her arm over the wall and threw her left leg over the wall trying to keep balance on the ledge. She had her eyes closed because though she wasn’t ready to explain to the rest of the team she had a slight fear of heights. And falling from said high places. She opened her eyes slowly and felt deeply relieved to see a cushion on the other side of the wall. She let herself drop and tried not to squeak at the awful feeling in her stomach. Then she heard the cheerful voice in her ear.

“Good job Meegan. You did it in 64 seconds; that’s really good! Especially for the first time. Ok come out. Jacque is up next.” Meegan got up a little shaky, just happy she wouldn’t be having to redo it.

“Don’t patronize me...” She muttered as she walked out and Jacque walked in. “Good luck.”

Jacque nodded as she let Meegan walk past her, looking at the wall. She wasn’t going to fail this one but that didn’t make it any less difficult. Heights. She would never tell the others but she was not the most comfortable with them. In fact anything but comfortable... She then heard Merry’s voice ring in her ear piece starting her countdown. ‘If only I could use my claws.’ was her last thought before she heard the “START!”

She ran full speed, getting a firm grip on her right hand and her left arm over the edge on the first try, pulling her body up. She throws her right leg over, resting her knee on the ledge. Shifting all her weight, her left leg hanging. she seemed to be crawling on the wall. Then she simply got her left foot over the wall and fell back a little landing on the cushion. Pretending her heart wasn’t beating a hundred miles an hour.

“I’m done! Time?” Please let me pass.

“49, pretty good Jacque!” She could picture the girl smiling brightly in the control room. She got up and went in.

“Ok Dezy, your turn.” The boy was pale. Too pale...

“I don’t. I don’t think I can do that.” His eyes were a little wide and dazed.

“Come on Dezy, you can do it. Ok maybe you can’t but that’s why you can redo it until you can pass. If you want, I can talk to The Boss and lower your standards a little. I mean considering you’ve never done anything like this... and stuff... I could give you um... I don’t know um... 180 seconds? 200? Or... Let’s go with 200 first. I’ll talk to The Boss about lowering your standards a little for this first trial. Next time, though, I’ll test you like the rest. Deal?” Desmond still did not seem ok with this. Far from it actually. He eyed the door again.

“Dez, I’ll drag you back.” Meegan threatened.

“Um, alright. 200?” Merry nodded. “Could you also lower the wall? Just a little.” His eyes pleading, Merry’s eyes narrowed...

“N... Um... N... UGH!!! HUGGIES!!! Fine! Ten feet. TEN!” She huffed, obviously unhappy about this.

“Hey, that’s not fair! You didn’t lower it for us!” Meegan accused.

“He’s new...” She still seemed to be debating it but they knew she would lower it. She typed some things on the control’s keypad, and the wall swooshed down two feet with barely a sound. Desmond breathed in deep and walked into the main room. Merry talked on the mic.

“Ok... 10... 9”

‘God Please don’t let me die. I’m too young. Too much to do. My dad...’

“4... 3...”

‘Please, please”

“Start!” Desmond ran full speed without thinking and ran straight into the wall, his head slamming against the wood.

“Oh my gosh!” Merry took off her headset and ran into the room, Meegan hot on her trail. Jacque was trying to stop her tears of laughter from falling.

“Seems you forgot to jump, dude.”

“Jacque, c'mon!” Meegan groaned at her and Merry were checking Desmond’s face. Nothing seemed to be broken or bleeding, but there might be bruising.

“I’m ok... No, I’m not...” Merry giggled. He smiled. Meegan let out her breath. He got up. “Can I retry that?”

“Yes Dez, but are you sure?” Meegan looked really concerned, helping him to his feet as Merry rose.

“Yeah. I don’t want to give Jacque more reason to laugh.” He eyed the girl through the window. She was still laughing, doubled over, tears streaming down her face. Meegan nodded, Merry and her left the room and Desmond got on his starting point again.

He took a breath and ran full speed. He did remember to jump this time but he didn’t jump with enough strength to get his hands over the edge of the wooden wall quite well, he slipped and fell on his right side, hitting his shoulder and his knee banging quite hard against the floor. His head slammed against the cold material bouncing a little at impact, all that came out of his mouth was an “OHHH!”. He hissed in pain as he turned over clutching his arm with his left hand, curling a little in reaction. Meegan and Merry gasped, frozen in space, while Jacque quickly spun around and grabbed a spare med kit just as they unfroze ran into the room. Being the team medic, kneeling down next to him.

“Is he ok?” Meegan sounded more worried than ever before. Jacque checked a couple things. moving his arm, his knee, and touching around the right side of his head.

“Yeah, he’s alright.” She simply stated and rose, leaving the room. Meegan nodded once, Merry and her picked up Desmond. They started to make their way out of the room.

“Maybe we shouldn’t...” Merry started but Desmond snatched from their grasp, he turned and ran straight for the wall again.

“Dezy, NO! I’ll say you aren’t ready yet!” Merry started after him but Meegan stopped her. She knew this was something personal between the wall and him now. He either had to succeed and prove his “manliness” or forever remember he was beaten by a ten feet wooden wall.

Desmond jumped and with just enough force, got a grip on the ledge, pulled himself over and let himself fall to the other side. Not with grace but he was through with that at this point. He let out a shout when he fell and landed with a ‘thud’ on the other side.

“Should we?” Meegan asked grinning, starting her way over.

“No, there’s padding on that side.” Merry stated smiling as she finished exiting the room.

“Time?!” Desmond asked as he appeared on the side of the wall. Merry froze, she hadn’t taken the time.

“119.” Jacque answered. Merry smiled, but Jacque continued. “And I took the liberty to raise it back to twelve feet.” No one but Merry saw the way she was smirking as she turned her back to them.

“Good JOB DESMOND!” Meegan cheered as they stood by the door. “Now if I remember correctly, you have to do it too Merry.”  

“Of course!” The girl actually sounded excited about this.

“What is wrong with her?” Desmond asked out loud when she walked into the main room. The girls just shook their heads.

“Merry your time starts in 10... 9...” Meegan started the countdown. Merry let out a breath and closed her eyes. Thoughts going off at random, until coming to a complete stop.

“2... Start!” The girl opened her eyes and ran for the wall she jumped and grasped the edge, she actually was short enough where she easily kicked herself up, pushing herself on the wall. Going over the edge she sat on the wall and just hopped over the edge.

“26 seconds.” Jacque was in her ear, Merry smiled. “That was pretty good. Do you practice that often?”

“No, I just think it’s in the genes.” Merry said walking into the room.

“... Right...”

“Alright next exercise! Involves eggs!!!” Jacque looked hungry and Desmond looked very worried. Meegan just shook her head.

“Can I eat-” Jacque slowly raised her hand.

“No.”

“Eggs?” Desmond quired looking at Meegan. “Are you sure that-”

“Hey! I am a professional!” Merry said firmly, pointing at Desmond and then Jacque, Jacque lifted her hands in defense against the crazy girl.

“As I was saying, it’s easy, you just have to catch the eggs without them cracking. Throw it among yourselves, I’ll throw some, catch, very simple.” All three nodded, no one noticed the evil smile that had crept into Jacque’s lips. They walked into the center room and Merry pulled a sort of machine out of nowhere.

“What’s that Merry?” Desmond asked inspecting the machine more closely, touching it’s smooth surface.

“It’s going to throw eggs at us.” Desmond’s hand stopped.

“While we do this?”

“Yeps!”

“Why? Aren’t we going to already be throwing them at each other?”

“We need to test if we can duck things that we have no control over. So might as well start with something safe. Unless you want to start with the knives?”

“What?...” Desmond croaked, Jacque grinned.

“Start? You mean we’re going to get to the knives anyways?”

“It’s going to be OK, Dez, you won’t die.” Meegan reassured the boy, “Not yet at least.”

“WHAT?!”

“Let’s begin!” Merry turned the machine on and it burst to life with a click and a smooth buzz. Meegan patted Desmond on the shoulder. They went to where Merry told them their spots were.

The eggs started flying and after five minutes no one was hit yet. Desmond usually ducked, Jacque moved from side to side, Meegan and Merry jumped and ducked and moved out of the way. Desmond was the one having the most troubles.

“Now to add the catching!” Merry pulled out an egg basket from thin air.

“How do you do that?!How?!”

“No wait, Merry don’t!” Desmond said while getting low to keep his head clean from the incoming egg.

“TOO LATE!” Mery threw the first egg at Jacque and as she caught it the force broke it and it exploded all over her hands.

“UGH! Gross!” She shook her hands in disgust. Already Merry was throwing the next egg at Meegan and she wasn’t ready and knowing she wouldn’t catch it, she side stepped it and went directly into the path of a machine thrown egg, hitting her it exploded across her forearm.

“Merry!” The girl was throwing the next egg at Desmond who wasn’t exactly paying attention and it hit him square on the chest. “Ewww...”

“You guys need to learn to pay attention!”

“Says the girl who gets distracted by a butterfly!”

“I can duck eggs!”

“These are really delicate eggs!”

“They are!” Merry beamed throwing the next egg at Desmond who blocked it with his hand and it dripped down his arm. Merry throw the next one at Meegan and the girl ducked it this time staying completely clean.

“After five catches in a row, you guys can test out.” Merry told them, this added a spark in Meegan’s eyes. her boots had received another hit, indirect but still. She, however, was the cleanest in the group.

“You’re CRAZY! You really are! You lost it!”

“I know, Jacque! Catch!” She didn’t, her shirt caught it.

“Meegan, make her STOP! PLEASE!” Desmond said as a machine egg caught his leg.

“I can’t. This somehow passed regulation. Don’t ask me how, but it did.” She wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at Merry and the egg in her hands, Merry threw it at her, Meegan focused at planning out fast how to move to balance the throw to keep the egg whole. And as the egg hit her hand she bent with it, keeping her perceptional vision on any incoming machine eggs. None hit. She’d caught one.

“Wonderful! Now you can throw it at me and I can test out too.” Merry said throwing another at Desmond that caught his neck.

“Jesus! Meegan stop her!” Jacque complained as she got hit by a machine egg. Meegan threw her egg at Merry, to their irritation she caught it without breaking it. Merry then completed her movement with throwing it at Jacque who didn’t have such luck. Merry threw another egg at Meegan and immediately after one at Desmond. To everyone’s surprise Desmond caught it but he immediately dropped it when a machine egg hit him in the face. Meegan also caught hers, she just looked at the boy with empathy as she moved from the range of an egg heading for her. She threw her egg at Merry who caught and threw it at Desmond who caught it but again dropped it. Merry threw the next egg at Jacque, Jacque caught it and sidestepped an incoming egg. She froze for a moment.

“Heck yeah!” She raised her hand and slammed the egg on the ground. “Wait that doesn’t count as drop-?” She started to asked but an egg caught her hair. “Darn you Merry!”

“It doesn’t count as dropping.” Merry said while she threw an egg at Desmond.

“MY GOD I CAUGHT IT!”

“Throw it here Desmond!” Meegan was anxious to test out. She needed to catch three more, just three. Desmond threw his at Meegan as Merry threw one at Jacque. Both girls caught them. Jacque threw hers at Desmond with every intention to hit not to help him test out. Meegan threw hers at Merry, who also caught it. The egg that was directed at Desmond he didn’t catch and as Jacque had hoped it hit him, on the right side of his head.

“Jacque I saw that! Your previous point has been revoked.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“It is! Dezy your point score is still one.”

“Gee, thanks.” The boy said wiping his face as another machine egg hit his arm.

“Merry, come on!” Meegan said, moments later she caught the egg thrown at her by Merry. “Dez catch.” The boy didn’t catch.

“Dezy, sorry that was a fair throw, your count is back at zero.”

“AWWWW!!!”

“Sorry!” Merry threw her egg at Jacque, and the girl caught it.

“Yes! Hey Merry look out!” Merry was busy throwing an egg at Meegan so she didn’t catch it.

“Jaaaaacque! Fine!”

“Ladies! I’m out!” Meegan waved the egg in her hand at them.

“Meegan in the corner of the control room is another basket. come throw, I want out.” Merry said as she threw another egg at Desmond. The boy didn’t catch it but he did dodge a machine egg heading his way. Meegan returned with a basket.

“Catch!” Merry caught the egg Meegan threw and cheered.

“Jacque!” Jacque clued out and just held her hand up as the egg crashed into her palm.

“Oh wait... Damn.”

“Back to zero, Jacque.”

“Oh, this is actually fun, Merry.” Meegan smiled as she threw one at Desmond.  

“Oh, yeah, yeah I know. Good Job Dezy!” Merry practically squealed as Desmond caught it.

“Merry, catch!” Both Desmond and Meegan threw an egg at her. She caught one, held it to show it was uncracked, and dropped it so she could catch other other one.

“Yes! That’s three! Jacque!” Jacque prepared for the egg being thrown at her, which she ended up catching.

“If I’m hit by an egg that I’m not trying to catch does it count?”

“Uh... Nah, it’s fine Dez.” Meegan answered as she threw an egg at Merry.

“Four! Dezy!” Merry turned to Desmond as Meegan turned to Jacque.

“Jacque, catch” Jacque caught. She then threw it at Merry.

“Five! Yay! I’m out!!!” She threw hers at Desmond as she jumped. He caught it. “Jacque,” both Meegan and Merry threw one at the girl. She by a kind of miracle caught them both.

“Good one more Jacque!” Jacque took them both and threw them as hard as she could at Desmond.

“Suck eggs, boy!”

“Merry! Let her test out! Let her test out!” Desmond practically screeched as he turned on the eggs and they hit him in the back.

“NO!! Not Yet! This puts her back at zero!”

“No! It’s fine, it really is!”

“Fine Dezy.” Merry threw an egg at Jacque. Which she caught as Desmond caught one Meegan threw at him.

“Jacque you’re out.”

“Can I throw eggs too?”

“NO!” Merry threw a final egg at Desmond hoping he’d catch. The boy did!

“Yay! We’re done with this exercise!” Merry skipped to turn off the machine. Desmond collapsed on the floor as Meegan started to collect the leftover eggs before Jacque got to them and attacked Desmond.

“Ok so the next two exercises are very simple, after them we can have lunch.”

“Good!... Wait... Lunch? What time is it?”

“11:38, why?”  
“I missed my show! Do you know how hard it is to get that show here? Merry!!!”

“This is more important!”  
“Like Heck it is! Wiktoria didn’t tell her fiance about Bianka! I wanted to know if their relationship would last! Now I’ll never know!”

“It’s ok Jacque, you can watch it online later.” Meegan was the voice of reason before a fight broke out.

“It’s not the same…”

“It is, now shush. What is the next exercise, Merry?”

“Oh! It’s in the workout room, next door. Well, for the moment, while this area cleans itself out. Let me go activate it, I’ll see you in the workout room in a moment.”

The three left one way as Merry went to press buttons to clean the walls and floors from the goo the eggs left. She then took the gadget’s room to get to the workout room. “Ok, so here it’s something simple. Just prove you have balance. Walk across the balance beam without falling.”

“Oh that’s easy,” Meegan reasoned “May I go first?”

“Go ahead”  Meegan jumped on and walked across the beam simply and with no problem, quite gracefully jumping off. Desmond at seeing the ease with which Meegan did it decided he might as well give it a try and go next. He walked across only wobbling an inch when he didn’t keep his pace in check, having gone a bit for fast for a moment. He, however, made it across safely and hopped off. Jacque headed up next and she also walked across without a problem, not caring for grace she merely stepped off. Merry was the last one to go, practically skipping across the beam and jumping off with a final skip.

“Good! Now the next step is slightly more difficult but not too hard.” Merry smiled as she brought out a gun. Everyone gasped, Desmond running to hide behind Meegan.

“God! She’s going to kill us!”

“Merry, put the gun away. NOW!” Meegan tried to not show her worry.

“Chill! I’m just going to spray the beam with water! It’s a water gun, not a real one. Geez.”

“That is a very real looking water gun.”

“Well it’s not.” Everyone let out a collective sigh at learning it was just a water gun. Merry rolled her eyes and aimed at the beam firing the gun, two bullets came out one after the other leaving a ringing sound in the room as the group shouted. Merry stared for a moment, obviously confused, and the others were just trying to get their breathing back to normal. “Woops! Wrong gun....” She smiled at them and took out another gun from her back pocket, this one was obviously fake. She aimed at the beam and sprayed. “There you go. It was this one.” She turned to the others as they stared blankly at her. “Whaaaaat?...”

“Nothing,” Meegan shook her head rapidly, her hands waving in the air.“NOTHING!” She walked up to the beam and while her legs wobbled slightly for a second as she sped on through she made it across as nicely and cleanly as the first time, slipping slightly on the dismount. Desmond took longer in getting across but he made it safely and relatively smoothly, almost losing balance once or twice but nothing too big to worry about. Jacque got on and off significantly the same as the first time she did it, maybe a little slower. Merry... skipped on through, just the same...

“Ok so for the next one I just want to test your upper and lower body strength by having you hit the punching bag and see how much you can move it on the meter.” Merry went to get a stool to climb to make sure the bag was at the beginning point so the measurement would be accurate. She came back and arranged all the things as she wanted them and looked at them. “Ok, how about if Dezy goes first? To change things up a bit. How about six inches?”

“She’s not serious is she? Expecting me to hit that and move it six inches.”

“Nah... She can’t expect you to even move the bag in the first place.” Jacque responded to Desmond’s inquiry. Merry narrowed her eyes at them.

“Jacque...” Meegan warned.

“Jacque, you’re suppose to encourage him. Dezy, come on.”

“She was serious guys....” Desmond inhaled and walked up to the bag, he got in a stance ready to punch it. He looked at the girls and saw Jacque laughing. He had to do this. He threw a punch and the force popped his knuckles. “Owwww!!! That’s never happened before.” Merry walked up to and took his hand.

“They’re fine.” Merry said after looking at them. “Have you never punched before?” She dropped his hand

“No. Not really... No...” Meegan sighed, Merry shook her head in disbelieve, and Jacque tried holding in her laughter but was failing at it.

“Will you teach me?” He asked them.

“Oh geez, this will take a while. Meegan let’s sit down, Mr. Stupid’s stupidity here just fueled Miss Crazy’s crazy."

“Ok so Dezy, here’s what you do...." She geared up to teach. Twenty minutes later, she finished explaining the mechanics of punching, as well as the history and different types of hand to hand combat before moving onto showing how to position his body for the perfect power punch as well as distracting punches. 

“... and that’s how you punch. Got it?” Desmond looked at her and blinked. “Dezy?”

“Ahhh.... I... Maybe... Yeah? I think I got it.”

“Ok, good, now hit it.” Desmond walked up to the bag again and hit it just as Merry had been teaching him. He noted that Meegan was sitting in a corner with her head resting on her arms that were resting on her knees. Jacque sat next to her on her phone. He took a hit at the bag and it barely swayed, his knuckles hurt.

“Here, try running up to it, so you get a little more force behind the swing.”

“Face it, newbie, you’re just weak.”

“Jacque, he’s not. he just hasn’t been training long like the rest of us.” Meegan said lifting her head to see what was going on.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Jacque, put that phone away.” Merry glared at her, Jacque rolled her eyes but listened. Desmond gave himself some space then ran to hit the bag with his fist.

“OW!!! That hurt!”

“Hey look! Least you moved it half an inch!” Merry said getting up on the stool and measuring the distance. “Now let’s try it with your feet, let’s see how well you kick.”

“Do I give myself running distance again?”

“If you want.” Desmond gave himself some space again, a little more because he wanted to run farther to maybe get more force.

“Wait, Dez, I don’t think tha-”

“Let the boy do what he wants.”

“Jacque, I was just saying that’s not such a good idea. No need to interrupt.”

Desmond tried to ignore them and took a deep breath, he ran to the bag and lifted his leg up to kick the bag.... Then he was confused about what happened next but he did notice three things. He felt a sharp pain somewhere in his leg. And someone, actually multiple people it seemed, screamed “Oh My GOD!!!”.... Everything went black.

Desmond stirred. Trying to block the light hitting his face directly, he reached for his pillow and put it over his head. Something felt odd... The bed was too uncomfortable and the pillow smelled weird. ‘Did mom change laundry soap?.... Mom... Mom?... No...’ “Wait a sec!” Desmond bolted up, dizziness hitting him like a brick. He looked around desperate for a minute, to recognize he was alone in a hospital room. He heard voices somewhere close outside his door.

“What if he woke up, he’ll be scared.”

“The wimp can take care of himself for a minute.”

“Should we wait for Meegan?”

“What for? She was just talking to the Boss. Com’n.”

“Merry? Jacque?” Desmond hoped they’d heard him.

“He’s awake!” He heard a few steps and Merry appeared at the door with Jacque.

“What happen?” He asked rubbing his face.

“Well... Nothing really, just seems you don’t know how to kick either. You hurt yourself and we had to call The Boss and here we are. At the hospital.”

“No, wait, they’ll call my mom.”

“Nah, we’re at a hospital that identifies SPIES. Don’t worry Dezy.”

“Identifies SPIES?...”

“Yeah, quite a few of the personnel here know about SPIES and kinda work for the government, don’t worry your mom won’t find out.”

“So what exactly happened to me?”

“Not much, or nothing you need to know, just kinda sprained your ankle, and you have a nasty bump on your head. You passed out, that’s why you’re still here, but you don’t have to stay. Meegan’s getting you food and talking to The Boss, she’ll be here soon and then we can leave.” Merry eyed the girl by the window who had stayed quiet the whole time. Meegan then walked in with a tray of food.

“Oh look he’s awake. I was starting to worry, you’d been out too much for just a bump and some pain killers. How are you? Need anything? I brought you food, we ate already.”

“Ah... No, I’m ok... I’m good. But I’ll take the food.” He smiled at her as she rolled up the tray setter.

“Your ankle?”

“I don’t feel any pain.”

“That’s good, must be the medicine. Do you want to stay or think we can leave today?”

“How long was I out?”

“Oh don’t worry, just a couple hours.”

“Enough to make me miss my shows.” Jacque grumbled. Desmond nodded at Meegan.

“Yeah we can leave today.”

“Great, I’ll got tell The Boss and we can arrange everything so we can get back. You’ll be on crutches for about a week or so. Then we’ll see what happens.” Meegan smiled.

“Where’s Don?”

“He’ll be back. He didn’t want hospital food.” She rolled her eyes good naturedly. They all stayed in silence for a bit until Merry spoke up having remembered something.

“Guys! I forgot to tell you, The Boss said we still have to finish the training evaluation when Dezy gets better.” Merry smiled, skipping ahead, completely ignoring the glares that she received.  


	9. First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry and Meegan attend public school...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI! Sorry it's been awhile, Jacque is a liar. We are working hard on the next chapter, and it should be up before Thanksgiving... :D

(It’s a Mid-September Saturday. The Boss is over to talk to Meegan and Merry)

“MEEGAN! MERRY! GET IN HERE!”

Meegan bolts upstairs from the basement and Merry drops from the ceiling before The Boss.

“Yeah, Boss?”

“You and Merry need to go to school.”

Merry and Meegan exchange confused glances. “Why would we go to school? And why only the two of us?”

“Don graduated last year and Jacque completed her schooling through SPIES. As for Desmond… well he DOES go to school. And you two need to, too. I was thinking of sending you to the SPIES school...”

“NO.” Merry and Meegan speak at the same time. They look at each other, before Meegan continues. “We want to go to public school. We can… Use it to better ourselves.”

The Boss raises an eyebrow. “Better yourselves? Public schooling?”

Merry stepped forward. “Yeah, it’ll help with blending into society and work on… communication skills.” She blinked innocently.

The Boss gives them both a stern look before sighing. “Fine. I’ll send you to public high school. You’ll go to the same school as Desmond; so we can keep an eye on all three of you. But I’m warning you, if you screw up; I’m taking you out and sending you to the SPIES school. Got it? You start Monday.”

Desmond appears behind Meegan and Merry. “I heard my name. What’s happening?”

“We’re going to be classmates!” Merry launches herself at him, squealing in joy.

His eyes open wide, obviously not expecting this. “What?”

“It’s true. Meegan and Merry need to finish schooling, and they insisted on going to public high school. Oh, by the way, you guys will be sophomores since Meegan missed a year of school, and Merry’s transcript was lost. Have fun!” The Boss walked quickly out the door before Merry and Meegan can argue.

“Sophomore? That’s my grade…”  Desmond wearily looked at Meegan and Merry, not particularly sure if he wanted to spend any more time with them than he had to.

* * *

MONDAY

Merry and Meegan were sitting in the cafeteria with Desmond examining the backstories The Boss made for them, as well as their class schedules.

“This says that I’m your cousin, Dezy!” Merry was excited, “And that I’m from Texas…”

“Apparently, I’m living with my elder sister, and we just moved here from New Hampshire so we could take care of our ailing grandmother…” Meegan looked at her paper, confused.  

“Forget the stories; let me see your schedules.” Desmond grabbed their agendas, hoping to have as few classes with them as possible.  “Ok, I have Math, English, and Photography with Merry, and I have History, Science, and Creative Writing with Meegan. And we’ll all have the same lunch. Oh joy.” He sighed; it was just his luck to be stuck with them for 6 hours of the day at school too. Thank God for Band.

“Why is everyone leaving?” Merry interrupted his thoughts. He looked up at the clock at the other side of the room.

“Oh, it almost is class time. Follow me, and we can drop Meegan off at her class and then go to Math.”

Desmond led the group to Meegan’s English class, instructing her to wait in the classroom until he came to take her to History, and then led Merry to their Math class just before the bell rang.

“Oh, you must be our new student. Come up to the front and introduce yourself.” Mr. Baker called Merry up.

“HI! My name is Merry. Like Christmas. And I’m from… Texas. Dezy is my cousin!”

Desmond drops his head onto his desk to hide his blush. He already didn’t like his Math class, and now he had even more of a reason to despise it. Merry happily skipped to the conveniently open desk next to him, oblivious to his misery as Mr. Baker passes out a worksheet.

“Well, Mr. Troy, since Mary, is your cousin; you can help her catch up.”

“No. It’s Merry.”

“Mary; I said that.”

“NO! Merry. I can you see pronounce it wrong. M-E-R-R-Y.”

“Fine, MERRY.” He walked away.

“Thank you!” Merry grins happily; dragging her desk over to Desmond’s and looking at him expectantly.

“OK, so we’re just working on simple factoring right now. See? So you distribute th-“

“Dezy, I’m bored. This has nothing to do with weapons… or animals.”

“No, it doesn’t have anything to do with animals or weapons. But to go to public school, you have to do this.”

“But I don’t wanna.”

“Neither do I, but we have to. You signed up for it.”

“Meegan isn’t in math. She’s in English. She’s messing with words. She’s good with words.”

“Merry, c’mon, let’s just focus. It’s honestly not that bad…”

Merry sighs, giving Desmond a cross look. She turns to her own paper, drawing something on it, so Desmond turns back to his own paper. He finishes with 5 minutes left in the class so he decides to check on Merry, who’s turned her math homework into an origami mace.  

“Look Dezy! I made one of my weapons!” She grins, holding it up proudly.

Desmond hears the whispers behind them, and he feels the blood rush to his cheeks again.

“Merry, put that down… unfold it, and I’ll help you do you’re homework later, ok, just put that away.” He whispered loudly.

Merry gave him a puzzled look. “What’s wrong, Dezy?”

Just as he was going to respond, the bell rang, and he sighed. He got up, pulling Merry along with him, directing her down the hall.

“Here is your science class. Will you be able to handle it alone?”

“Of course, Dezy!” She grinned, hugging him and walking into the classroom, leaving Desmond to go collect Meegan.

He took his time getting to the English class, hoping class with Meegan would be better than with Merry. He finds Meegan examining a copy of “Rebecca” By Daphne DuMaurier.

“Meegan, are you ready for History?”

She glances up. “Apparently, Meegan isn’t a good name, and I’ve now been dubbed ‘Maggie’ by my English classmates. I kinda like it.”

He raises an eyebrow at her, but shrugs it off, leading her towards their History class. She introduces herself to the teacher, Mrs. O’Neill.

“Hello. I’m new, my name’s Meegan.”

Mrs. O’Neill looks at her roster, and smiles. “Meegan… What an interesting name. Where are you from?”

“New… Hampshire. I moved here with my older sister to take care of our sick grandma.”

“Oh, how sweet! We’re just going to do a lecture today, so take notes. You can sit next to Desmond over there. He’s far too quiet, maybe you can bring him out of shell.”

Meegan smiles, making her way over to Desmond. “Quiet?”

“I don’t like this class. So sue me.” He made a face, pulling out a notebook to take notes.

Meegan watches him a minute longer, before shrugging and taking out her own notebook. Hawkins falls out of her bag, and she quickly tries to scoop him up before Desmond notices, but it’s too late.

“You brought Hawkins to school with you? Shouldn’t he be at home making sure Jacque and Don don’t burn the house down?”

“Shhh! Yes I brought Hawkins… He wanted to come along. And he didn’t want to babysit Jacque and Don; they were supposed to be busy today. But Hawkins doesn’t want anyone to know he’s here because he’s kinda shy with all these kids around.”

Desmond rolls his eyes, turning towards the board where Mrs. O’Neill is talking about King Henry VIII. He is taking notes, grateful that Meegan hasn’t done anything to embarrass herself; besides bringing that blasted fork. Mrs. O’Neill was discussing Anne Boleyn when Meegan leaned over to Desmond.

“Did you know that Anne Boleyn was actually a spy sent by the Spanish to get dirt on Henry after his relationship started to fall apart with Catherine of Aragon?”

“What?” Desmond turned to her, not sure he’d heard her right.

“She was actually a spy sent to entice Henry. She was going to get all the dirty secrets on him and give them to the Spanish; but she actually fell in love with him… or his power, and didn’t sell him out. But when Henry found out that she’d been a spy, he had her executed.”

“Wha…? Why would…? How do you know this?”

“It was in a book at SPIES main headquarters in New York. It has a list of all the famous spies over the years.”

“You’re kiddin-“

“Mr. Troy. Is there something you and Meegan would like to share with the class?”

Desmond’s throat went dry and his cheeks burned red. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“Oh, we were discussing the legitimacy of Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves. How real was the marriage if it was never consummated?” Meegan flashed another smile at Mrs. O’Neill, who harrumphed, turning back to her lecture.

By the time the bell rang, Desmond was wishing the day would go faster. Meegan and Merry kept his life on the edge. He directed Meegan to her Math class and told her where she could find her Public Speaking class, and then headed off to find Merry. She’d already left her science class by the time he got there, so he planned on heading to Photography, when he thought he saw Jacque walking through the hallway. He blinked, and she was gone.

“Dezy!” Merry threw herself at him, crying.

“Oh, Merry! What’s wrong?” He led her to a more secluded hallway and made her sit. The bell rang, signaling that they should be in their third hour, but he ignored it.

“It was horrible, Dezy! Th-th-they had froggies, and th-th-they were de-dead! And th-then, they ma-made us cut th-them open!” Merry was sobbing.

Desmond sighed, awkwardly patting her on the back. They sat like that for a while, Desmond waiting for Merry’s tears to end. When they finally did, he helped her up.

“We should probably head to pho-,“ The bell rang, and he sighed. “English then.”

He led Merry to their classroom, grateful that Ms. Hickery didn’t make Merry do any introduction. They were all sent to the library to pick out 2 books to read for the quarter.

Desmond browsed the stacks, while keeping an eye on Merry, who was examining a book on weaponry. He picked up a copy of “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas, when he saw Jacque again. This time she caught his eye and winked, before disappearing.

“Merry, do you see that?”

“Hm?” She didn’t even look up.

He glanced back to where Jacque had stood, but she was nowhere to be seen. He shrugged, moving to a new shelf of books. He was looking through some Charles Dickens, and had just picked up “A Tale of Two Cities” when Merry appeared next to him.

“Dezy, look what I found!” She held up a book on bombs.

“What is this doing in a public high school…?”

He noted that there wasn’t a school sticker/barcode on it. Out of curiosity, he flips open the front page, where he finds a note.

 

_‘Thought you’d enjoy this. Ready for the big boom?_

_The Reaper’_

“The Reaper?” He shook his head, having a bad feeling about this. He stuck the book in his backpack, just as the bell rang. He pointed the way to Merry’s Weights class. “Weights and Science have first lunch, but you need to check in with your teacher before you can head to the cafeteria. Meegan and I will meet you there, ok?”

She nods, and makes her way off to Weights. Desmond’s mind was spinning with worry over this so called “Reaper” as he made his way to science. He walked into the room to find Meegan already there, conversing with the teacher, Mr. Booth. When she spotted him, she smiled, waving him over. He groaned, afraid of what was up her sleeve now.

“Hi, Dez! I was discussing with Mr. Booth about the possibility of us being lab partners!”

“Yes, since you’re the only one she really knows… Plus, Juan isn’t here today, and we’re dissecting. You do need a partner. So I told her yes.”

He didn’t even feel like arguing. He just sighed, showing Meegan their seats, and then they made their way to the lunchroom. Meegan had packed a lunch, so she waited by the wall while he and Merry bought food. Then they found seats in back, where there was less noise, though Desmond could’ve sworn he spotted Jacque a few tables away. Before he could voice this though, Merry had her own pressing topic.

“Meeeeeeeeegan! Why’d you pack a lunch? The Boss gave us lunch money.” Merry looked at Meegan curiously.

“School food is a conspiracy. The C.I.A. put something in them to control the minds of America’s youth. One day, they’ll flip the switch, and people who eat it will be like zombies, but with less brain eating. And they’ll become a backup army, because nobody suspects the children.” She picked up her P.B. & J sandwich and took a bite.

Merry and Desmond just kind of looked at her, having lost their appetite. Then Merry, shrugged, eating it anyways, and Desmond followed suit.

“So Merry, how has school been?” Meegan grinned.

“Ooh, I’ve had fun! Except for science… poor froggies!!! Then I met with Dezy, and he made me feel better, then we looked at books! And Dezy and I found something weird!”

“Weird?”

“It was a book on bombs, and it didn’t belong to the library. It had a note inside. It said something about a ‘big boom’ and was signed by ‘the Reaper.’” Desmond explained.

Meegan scrunched her nose. “Weird. We should show it to the Boss later, but we shouldn’t worry about it for now. Oh!” She digs into her bag, pulling out Hawkins. “I’m so sorry, Hawkins! I forgot you were in there!”

“You brought Hawkins to school?” Merry raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. He wanted to see what it was like. He would’ve been bored without me.”

Suddenly, a hand appears, taking Hawkins from Meegan’s hand. They all turn to confront a big guy, who looks like he’s been in more than one fight, judging by his nose.

“You drew a face on your fork? How LAME!”

“Give him back! Hawkins!” Meegan tries to grab Hawkins, but the guy pushes her back against the table. “Let’s be reasonable about this.” She tries her negotiator voice, but it seems to have no effect.

“Rodney, give her the fork!” Desmond tries his hand at getting Hawkins back.

“Oh, and what are you going to do about it, Troy?” The guy sneers.

“HEY! You big BULLY!” Merry stamps her foot, demanding his attention. He turns toward her, sizing her up before laughing. Merry, insulted, does what she does best. She throws her elbow into his stomach, and he doubles over. She grabs the fork from him, handing him back to Meegan. “Nobody messes with my friends.”

“I’ll… I’ll tell the principal.” He stands, holding his gut and grimacing.

Meegan shoots daggers his way. “Oh, yes, that’ll be very convincing. You, a guy the size of a gorilla, got beaten up by a girl, half your size. I’m sure the principal would love to hear that.”

He glares, running off. A few people from surrounding tables start whispering, while Meegan, Desmond, and Merry sit back down. They finish the rest of lunch in silence, before Merry returns to Weights, and Meegan and Desmond go to science.

“Alright class! Go to your lab stations.”

Desmond let Meegan do a majority of the dissecting, looking at the frog made him realize how right Merry was about how hard it is to cut open the frog. It reminded him too much of Leo, one of Merry’s pets who’d taken a liking to him. Meegan worked in silence, and before they knew it, it was time to clean up and head to creative writing. As they walked, Meegan wouldn’t meet his eye.

“Meegan, what’s wrong?” He was hoping she didn’t break down like Merry.

“I… You and Merry were right. I shouldn’t have brought Hawkins. It’s too dangerous here. I’m sorry that I caused such a commotion by bringing him.”

Desmond awkwardly patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Rodney’s just a jerk. Public high school is more street educational than academically sometimes.”

They made it to their Creative Writing class, and were soon busy at work, writing a waitress and detective. Everyone in that class was incredibly engrossed in their work, and soon, the teacher was asking for volunteers to read. There were a few, but neither Meegan nor Desmond did.

The bell rang, and Desmond breathed a sigh of relief, happy to finally be heading to Band. Meegan was still upset about the Hawkins thing, but he hoped she’d be happier after culinary. He was just about to open the door when there was a loud BOOM! Noise, and the fire alarms went off. He followed the crowd outside, hoping to find Meegan or Merry.

“Dezy!” Merry found him, grabbing his arm. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Have you seen Meegan?”

“No.” She looked worried, and they started searching the crowd, but it was a grave Meegan who found them.

“Big Boom.”

It hit Desmond like a rock. The Reaper and the big boom. They all exchanged glances, as the fire department showed up. They searched high and low for a threat, and it turns out that the boom had been caused by pen bombs, multiple pen bombs, and a frightened student pulled the fire alarm. It was written off as a prank gone bad.

By the time they cleared the school building for kids to go back in, it was already time to leave. Merry, Meegan, and Desmond went to collect their stuff, and met at the bus. They didn’t discuss the bomb on the bus, but you could tell it was on all of their minds. When they got home, the Boss waited for them.

“A BOMB THREAT? YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, AND THERE WAS A BOMB THREAT? THIS IS WHY I DIDN’T WANT YOU IN PUBLIC SCHOOL. I SHOULD SWITCH YOU TO THE SPIES ACADEMY RIGHT NOW!” She was clearly furious, but Meegan just gave her a calm look.

“Yes, there was a bomb threat. But they happen all around the US all the time, and it was just a poorly executed prank. It’s a part of high school. Besides, Merry and I had a great time. You’d be undermining our education if you took us out.”

“I’m giving you a week, before you come crawling to me, begging to be transferred.” The Boss walked out.

Meegan sighed, going downstairs, muttering something about a nap, while Merry went to play with her animals. Desmond had a different mission. He grabbed the book on bombs, and went to find Jacque. She was in her room, painting.

“I believe you left this at the school.”

“Hm?” Jacque glances over at him, and spots the book. She grins a little. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve been here painting, Kid.”

“Sure you have.” He places the book on her dresser and left a grinning Jacque behind, who went back to easel, which showed a young man in front of a burning building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? Meegan wrote this chapter, give her some feedback! :D The next chapter will be a bit more about the SPIES experience, and written by Jacque!


	10. PLOT DEVICE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Setting: The Boss demands a shipment of all of Team 109’s files - the main expense reports for the shopping trip and extras needed, reports on the neighbors, and any authorization forms for any extra commodities - and weapon logs be delivered to New York HQ in 3 days. While that seems very easy, all of the files are hard copy, and fill over 30 good size boxes (15 courtesy of Merry’s weapon collection) and would not fit in the cars.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY SO SORRY, heres under 2000 words but more plot... PLOT

“Jesus, Merry and Joseph! Why do we need so many boxes?” Don asked, look as Jacque and Desmond brought out the last boxes.  Merry stood, slightly crying, as Meegan chastised at her over her purchases.  

“Merry decided to order 4 of everything in the recent Machine Gun/Machete Monthly and spent over 10,000 dollars of our 100,000 dollar budget.  So, the Boss demands we come to New York and explain ourselves.”  Jacque said, with a wheeze.

“Gurl, that’s AT LEAST 60 new outfits that you need.”  Don said to Jacque, who merely flicked him off.  They both turned to watch Meegan’s shouting.

“That was 10 percent of our BUDGET! We each got 20 thousand for ourselves, and you already spent 15 thousand on pets and weapons! That money was meant to last until the NEW YEAR!” Meegan screeched.

“I was just being THOROUGH! We might need these things!”

“Who will want a gold plated grappling hook? Don, don’t you dare.” Don’s hand shot down.  “These were not approved by the SPIES weapons commission and 7525 dollars needs to be refunded! That’s 4 boxes of files ALONE that needs to be taken to New York so we can get some money back, but no one wants to pay for the cargo plane to be taken to New York!”

Jacque twitched. “We need a plane? I can fly a plane. I can ask a friend at the plane yard to loan me a small passenger for the trip. I just need about 3000 for fuel.”  

Meegan turned to Merry, with an eyebrow cocked.  “Merry?”

Merry sniffed, walking back into the house and came back a few minutes later with a small wad of cash. “Here.” She sniffed again.

“Cool. Be back in an hour.”  Jacque spun on her heels and walked forward.

**\---An Hour Later--**

“Yo. Meegan, I’m sending a guy name Josie to the house, he’s gotta small fleet of trucks coming to put some boxes in, meet me at the private airport.”  Jacque said into her phone.

“Okay, but who-CLICK-” Jacque hung up the phone, and sat there.

“Hey, howzit.” An accented voice called up to the plane.  Jacque leaned out of the window, and looked down.  A tall and tan man with sunglasses looked up at her.

“Aloha.” Jacque jumped down, landing on her feet.

“You gonna fly ta-day, cuz? You haven’t flown since da last time I say ya back in 2010?”  Jacque hugged the man and stared up at the tall Hawaiian.  

“Yeah, taking a few of my friends to New York, why?  When did you get back to the mainland?”

“Last week, but I gotta tell you some-ting cuz, some-ting that won’t make you happy.” The man removed his sunglasses revealing milky white eyes. His eyes shone brightly before fading back to the soft white.

“…Go ahead, Max.”

He gasped before jerking up, eyes completely blank. His mouth opened,

“…An old friend will come to visit and bring nothing but fear and revelation to those willing to listen. A great enemy will steal the only one you have left. A fair creature will look upon you with favor, but the hand of which will come a decade after the death of friend and foe alike. Without a steady hand, no matter what you do will only end in the death of the Grim. But holding onto the gifts given to you by those behind the cloak, you can defeat the spawn of what was once thought to be the greatest threat to the way of emissary to the Great Land.  Be wary, Jacque of the Rebirth, there will be a choice between the safety of those you love and the greater good, and you will never make the right choice…” The disembodied voice faded away. Max slumped forward, his body seemed to be held in midair, his torso floating while his legs hung limply beneath him.

“…Thank you, Max.” Jacque whispered.

“I’m sorry for whatever I said, not all gifts are meant to be used.” Max rasped, his eyes watery. “How are you doing with your own gift?”

“...I’m glad for your prediction, I’ll be sure to take it into account…Take care.”  Max nodded at the dismissal and walked away and Jacque turned back to her plane.  Meegan and Don walked in, both carrying two boxes.  

“We parked outside the hangar.  Can we bring the car in here?”

“Yeah, come on, we need to leave by 4.”  Jacque began to pack up the cargo hold of the small plane. An hour later, they all had packed up the plane, and Jacque had checked the fuel. Desmond, Don, and Merry were in the passenger section while Jacque and Meegan sat in the cockpit.

“So, when’s the last time you flew?”

“A while. No worries.” The plane slowly came to life. Jacque grabbed the small intercom walkie, and turned it on. “So…this is your captain speaking.  Be careful with the seatbelts, Matty never got around to fixing them. Oh, and bee-tee-dubs, I am not good at landing. Have a nice flight!” Cries came from the panicking passengers.

“HOW DOES SHE EVEN KNOW THAT WORD?”

“WE ARE GOING TO DIE!”

“***&@#@$%^&*^$***”

Jacque started down the runway after taxing out of the hangar, she picked up the plane, they flew up, drawing more cries from the passengers.   About an hour into the flight, Jacque set the plane to autopilot (she just locked the controls and the yoke into position) and stood up. She glanced over at Meegan, who although was reading a flight manual (published in the 70s), her hair was frizzier, her glasses slightly askew and knuckles were white.

“Gonna go get something to drink, want anything?”

“...henkandkfnalkdnfa…” Meegan mumbled shaking slightly.

“Mkay…”

Jacque walked back into the interior of the plane, Merry was humming slightly, staring out the dirty window, Don was cleaning his shoes, and Desmond was shaking still.

“Hey nerds. I packed snacks~” Jacque said, raising a large bag of Snowballs and a small baggie of raisins and chex mix.

“Girl, I am gonna need some more nourishment than some Snowballs.”

“Okay, I can land-”

“NO!” Desmond squeaked loudly. “Please...just get us to where ever we need to go, and we will bus back to the house… please…” He started crying violently as the plane suddenly tipped. “OHGODOHGODHOGODOHGOD!”

“I’ll head back to the front, but if you guys want any snacks-”

“FLY THE PLANE!” Desmond screamed. Merry was crying loudly as the plane dipped even more.

“Fine, geez.” Jacque calmly walked to the cockpit, Meegan was yelling loudly, her knuckles white as she clenched her fingers around her arm rests.  Jacque unlocked the controls and calmly leveled the plane. She grabbed the transmitter and spoke calmly. “We got about 45 minutes until we land.” She glanced over at Meegan, whose eyes were still shut. “Oh, wait, I forgot I need to go get my-” *A smack sounded as a pack hit Jacque on the back of the head* “Oooh, here they are, my raisins…”

The rest of the flight went without incident, and Jacque landed gently [read violently jerky] on the private runway. They all rushed out of the plane, Desmond still slightly teary eyed.

“Wow, that went great!” Jacque said, climbing out of the plane.

“How was that great?” Merry asked.

“Well, for one, that was the first time I’ve landed successfully.” Jacque cheered. “Actually, that was first time I’ve ever landed!”

“WHAT!” The team screamed.

“Yeah, I was only ever co-pilot with Max and his cousins.” Meegan let out a wail as Desmond fainted.

- **\--45 minutes later---**

The team drove up to the SPIES Headquarters, the plain glass building blending into the heart of the city. It went up 13 stories above the dirty sidewalk and Desmond stared up an awe.

“Move it or lose it, Rookie!” Jacque called out, carrying 3 boxes stacked on  top of each other. Desmond turned around and grabbed two large boxes and scurried quickly to catch up with Jacque. The inner lobby was about 2 stories up, showing the first 3 floors through clear glass walls. Jacque was chatting up a cherub-like secretary, whose face was bright red at whatever Jacque was whispering.  

“Jacque, where do these need to be taken?” Desmond asked, watching as the secretary squeaked and handed Jacque a key card.

“5th floor, financial office.  Then we need to head to the 6th floor for our weapons logs.” Meegan said, walking up behind Desmond.  “Anything else, such as personal uniforms and other things can be handled back home, but things like finances have to go through the main headquarters.” Meegan continued, glaring slightly at Merry.

“I’M SORRY!” Merry began to cry, slightly unnerving due to her hold on 4 large boxes that towered over her small frame.

“Nevermind, let’s go. Jacque, you can talk to your friend later.” Meegan walked swiftly towards the elevator, Jacque waved slightly at the still blushing girl.

“Okay, I’ll head up in the maintenance elevator, with the boxes.” Meegan directed them over to the maintenance elevator, Jacque getting in with the piles and piles of boxes surrounding her. “See you guys up there.” The elevator dinged as the doors closed.

“This way, you guys.” Meegan called out. “We are taking the other elevator up.” The four of them got into the elevator; Merry and Meegan held their breath as it went up 5 floors. It dinged and Merry and Meegan rushed out onto the level, seeing Jacque stacking the boxes in 5 piles.

“Hurry up, The Boss is here to talk to us later. We need to get these to the director of finances and then to weapons logging,” Jacque said. They all picked up a pile of boxes, Merry’s being considerably heavier, though she seemed to walk with it just fine to one of the backrooms of the floor. Jacque kicked/knocked on a door and waited. A woman of about 30 opened the door.

Meegan spoke up, “Hello Mrs. Robman, how are you and Isaac?” The woman mumbled something and opened the door wider to reveal a large room filled with filing cabinets and shelves.

“Sorry kids, exhausted. I have no idea why they moved me up here, but with Mrs Stonner being knocked up back to back, I have to do math… it’s gross… Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“We are just delivering a massive load of paperwork for our finances, we need to get a refund for about 8 thousand dollars worth of merchandise.” Meegan said, glancing at Merry, who started tearing up again. “So if we could turn in some of these boxes before we head up to the WF room, that’d be great.”

“Oh, the Weapons Funding room is here now too. Woo.” Robman groaned out. “Just leave all the  boxes, I’ll have the night guy get it.”

“Okay, sure.” Meegan said slowly, before beginning to stack the boxes given to her by the team. “Umm. See you later.”

“Yeah.”

Meegan quickly closed the door. Jacque and Merry stared at her before they turned around and walked back to the elevator. Desmond jogged to catch up.

“Who was that?”

“That’s Marty Robman, she’s normally up in the foreign communications department, but a lot of the original people had to leave for a conference in Brazil. She’s pretty cool, but she’s probably exhausted, she just had her first kid.” Meegan explained, stuttering slightly as they walked in the elevator.

“So… What now?” Desmond asked.

“Well, Rookie, we’re gonna go see what The Boss needs us for.”

**\--- 15 minutes later---**

The team walked down a long hallway before coming to a large set of double doors.  Meegan knocked lightly.

“Come in.”

Desmond wheezed slightly at the booming voice before Jacque shoved him through the door.

“Ah, welcome Team 109. I have some information on your next-”

**BRIIINNGGG**

“Sorry, I’ve got take this. Meet me in Conference Room 27 on Saturday, the 17th of November.” The Boss picked up her phone. “This is E- Oh, hello, Mr. Shaw. Ye-Yes, sir, I have scheduled the meeting. No, I do not know the whereabouts of Dr. Cameron-” The team walked out of the room.

“That was waste of my shopping time…” Don muttered.

“So, are we gonna get a mission then?” Merry asked.

“I don’t know. That was weird. Mr. Shaw… like Head Honcho Shaw?” Jacque asked.

Meegan tsked, “You shouldn’t listen to other people’s conversations, Jacque.”

“Eh. If it was, then something big is happening in this sector of SPIES… and I think we might be involved.” Jacque hummed, pushing the lobby button in the elevator. “Dr. Cameron is this sectors lead physician. Someone who doesn’t go missing. Or The Boss was lying. But why lie to someone like Shaw. They say he can read minds.” Jacque whispered as the elevator dinged on the 1st floor. Two men in suits got on the elevator, squeezing Merry and Meegan in the back. Merry started screaming, more of a high pitched whine then anything.

“Jones, you hear that?”

“Man, that grenade blast must of deafened you.”

The lobby dinged, and Merry and Meegan sprinted out of the elevator, running through the lobby to the car. The rest of the team walked out at a more leisured pace, Jacque giving a finger wave to the secretary who blushed.

“Jacque!”

“Coming, I’m coming.” Jacque walked outside, taking a deep breath. A blur of brown in her peripheral made her turn her head, seeing a figure disappear with a flash. “Hmmm.”

“Oh my god, girl, I’mma need you to scoot.”

“Yeah.” Jacque got into the car. “So, who’s flying with me back to-”

“NOT ME!”

“FINE! Geez, it’s like you guys hated the flight-”

“We did!”

“Fine. More room for Jacque. Meegan, drop me off at the airport!” Jacque hurrumped.

“Please?” Meegan looked at Jacque.

“Yeah. Thank you.” Meegan sighed before pulling out into the flow of traffic.

**\---Airport---**

Jacque landed the plane, and slowly went about turning it off. She sighed slightly, as the sound of fluttering was heard outside the plane.

“What do you need, Ash?” Jacque whispered as she walked down the stairs out of the plane. A man came walking over, taking the flight manifest from her and nodding her off. Jacque walked out of the hanger, Ash following her.

“Heard from the grapevine that Max took a flight to Minneapolis. Any idea why?” Ash demanded, her hip cocked as she glared down Jacque.

Jacque smiled fakely, “Just some friendly chatter between old friends. Why?”

“...I didn’t realize Max still talked to us…” Ash shuffled slightly.

“You told him to leave you alone with his “wackass guesses” so he did.” Jacque said, her eyebrow cocked.

“...What did he say?” Ash whispered.

“Came to warn me about a few things, don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

“If it has to do with the mission, I should know!” Ash growled.

Jacque sighed, “It doesn’t, I’ll handle it.” Ash groaned, before tossing over a manilla envelope.

“Here, it's all I got right now.” Jacque didn’t open the envelope before digging in her pocket and pulled out a flashdrive.

“I got an in at the main HQ, so now I’ll be dropping off regularly. I’ll let you know where and when later. I have to go before the team becomes suspicious.” Jacque turned quickly, she didn’t hear Ash leave.

“...Okay. See you later, I guess.” Ash sighed, rubbing her hand through her short hair. She took a deep breath before her wings grew from her back, slipping through the holes in her jacket, deep black and blue and brown feathers scatter throughout her motley wings. They expanded almost 5 feet in each direction before she exhaled and shot off into the air.

Jacque rubbed her face as wind hit her back as she walked towards the taxi waiting for her. She whispered slightly as she got into the taxi, “I’ll handle it.”

\----

And scene! Sorry about being so late, which is weird since this has been done for WEEKS. But yay!

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by Jacque.
> 
> Anyway, a quick update:  
> Jacque and Meegan are both in college and away from the home base where the story was started. Merry is currently the only one of us with an actual job, so she working too (probably harder than Jacque who sleeps most of the day. But, we are starting the work again, so to those few people reading, sorry! We are trying.


	11. Jacque Attempts to Drive a Car (despite her ability to pilot and steer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick filler!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By Meegan

(Setting: Sometime the third week of October.)

“Meegan! I need to get more things for the first aid kit and I need some more yogurt and pretzels and stuff! Take me to the store!” Jacque opens Meegan’s door to find her playing a game of checkers versus Hawkins; who was beating her.

“Sorry, Jacque, I can’t. Hawkins and I are having a checkers tournament. Have Don take you.” Meegan didn’t even look up.

Jacque sighed, passing Merry and Desmond playing video games. She made her way up the stairs, to Don’s room.

“Don, Meegan says you have to take me to the store.”

“Honey, can you not see that I am busy? I’m reorganizing my shoes, alphabetical by designer, then by color. I’m still on my Jimmy Choo’s.” He held up a pair of cheetah print ‘evening slippers’.  “Why can’t she take you?”

“She’s too busy losing to her fork in checkers.” Jacque made her way back downstairs, to wait on Meegan or Don, whoever finished first.

She watches Desmond and Merry play video games for a little while, trying to mess Desmond up as much as possible, before falling asleep in her bean bag. Before she knew it, Meegan was shaking her awake.

“Hawkins beat me in the tournament. Ready to go get the supplies?”

“Yeah. What time is it?” Jacque stood up, following Meegan to the car.

“A little after 4.”

“You played checkers with a fork for 6 straight hours? You couldn’t take a break to take me to the store?”

“I was in my mode. I wouldn’t have to take you to the store if you knew how to drive. I mean, you know how to fly a plane and steer a boat, how hard could driving a car be for you?” Meegan peels out of the driveway.

“Those are so easy, driving with rules and regulations is so boring. Besides, who’s gonna teach me?”

“But there are rules to… Don and I could. It could be a great… bonding moment for the three of us. I once tried to teach Hawkins to drive. He was doing pretty well, but the police officer didn’t think so…”

 

* * *

TWO DAYS LATER

 

“Alright, Merry, Desmond; Don and I are going to teach Jacque to drive so she isn’t so dependent upon us for when she needs to go to the store and she also refuses to walk. I trust the two of you not to burn the house down. Hawkins is taking a nap downstairs, so until he wakes up, Desmond, you’re in charge.”

Meegan led the way to the car, directing Jacque to the driver’s seat and Don to the back.

“Why do I have to sit in the back?”

“Because we’re going to take turns teaching her how to drive. I’m going first. Now Jacque, start the car. Good. Everyone put your seat belts on. Put the car into drive and give it a little gas.”

Jacque puts her foot on the gas pedal, jerking the car forward, and she pulls onto the street; nearly hitting the mailbox.

“How was that?”

“That was… good. A good start. A little jerky, but we can work with it. Now take us down the street and turn right at the stop sign. Don’t forget the turn signal.”

Jacque presses the gas again, jolting the car towards the stop sign. She attempts to put on her turn signal but ends up turning the windshield wipers on.

“Ugh! How do I turn these off?”

“Twist the knob! No, the other way!”

Jacque, not watching the road and still having her foot on the pedal, rolls past the stop sign, nearly hitting a red car. The driver gives Jacque the bird, driving off. Jacque, not one to take insults sitting down, tries to follow the guy.

“NO, go right!”

“But he flipped me off!”

“You nearly hit him. Get over it, and go right.”

Jacque sticks her tongue out, but complies. She turns right, giving it a little more gas than necessary.

“Slow down, it’s only 25 through here and you’re going 35.”

“But that’s too slow!”

“It’s the law, and you really don’t need a ticket on your first day.”

Jacque slows down, but starts to drift into another lane.

“Why are all these people going the wrong way?”

“Oh God, Jacque, you’re in the wrong lane! Move to the right!”

“Stop yelling at me!”

“Ugh, you know what, pull into that gas station and Don and I will switch places. Maybe he can teach you better. Turn signal!”

“Ha!” Don laughs at Meegan, who glares back at him.

“Oh, shut it. I doubt you’ll do any better.” They’d made it to the gas station successfully, giving Meegan a mild hope for Jacque.

Meegan slides out of the passenger seat and into the back, swiftly bucking up, while Don climbs up front.

“Alright; the first mistake Meegan made was having you drive on urban roads; where there are a lot of people. You need to be on the rural roadways. So leave the gas station and keep going straight until you see the old farmhouse then keep going for a mile and till we turn at the lake.” Don gives Meegan a smug look, who’s chosen to pout in the back.

Jacque backs up and turns around, narrowly missing a woman and her two children, and heads back out onto the road, driving right in front of oncoming traffic. Don turns to Jacque, a look of shock in his eyes.

“You… Jacque, there was a stop sign! You could’ve killed us!”

“If I had stopped, then I would’ve had to wait for the other cars. Why would I want to do that?”

“No, you have to stop! If there are any rules I follow, they’re the rules of the road; and I suggest you do the same, because not only your life is at stake while driving, but the lives of others! Like my shoes! I would KILL you if you ruined my shoes.”

“Just when I thought we were going to have a heartwarming moment…” Meegan mutters from the back.

“Nothing happened did it? We’re all still alive. I’ll remember that for the NEXT stop sign.”

They drove in silence for a while; Jacque managing to stay on her side of the road. By the time they were passing the farm, everyone had relaxed.

“Ok, now turn left here, and we’re gonna do a lap around the lake over there.”

Jacque jerks the wheel to the left, throwing Meegan to her side in the back.

“Careful, would you?”

“I am!”

“Meegan, stop yelling at my protégé. Now go nice and slow around the lake. You don’t have to jerk the wheel so hard; we have power steering.”

“Okay!”

Jacque slowly puts her foot on the gas pedal, and they start off on a nice and slow path towards the lake. She gently turns the wheel. Things are going well, when she spots something in the water.

“Is that a muskrat?”

She jerks the wheel, swerving them into a ditch. Meegan slams her face into Jacque’s seat, while Jacque hits the steering wheel while Don barely misses the dash.

“Ouch!” Meegan removes her face from the seat.

“Urgh… Why didn’t the airbags go off?” Jacque rubs her forehead.

“Merry and I disabled them. I was afraid if they went off, they would hurt my gorgeous face.”  Don looks at them as if this were obvious.

Meegan rolls her eyes. “Jacque; can you put it in reverse and get us out of here?”

Jacque shakes her head. “The back wheels are up in the air and the front wheels aren’t touching either. We’re balancing on the nose of the car.”

“Great. Follow me.”

Meegan unbuckles her seatbelt and opens her door, scaling the side of the SUV. Jacque follows, then Don.

“How are we gonna get out of this one, oh wise leader?”

“I don’t need your sarcasm, Don. You’re the one who had her drive over here. Jacque and I will walk the mile to the farm, and you can stay here and watch the car, OK?”

“Why do I have to watch the car?”

“Do you want to walk in the dirt?” He shakes his head. “Didn’t think so. C’mon Jacque.”

Don sits on the end of their SUV while Meegan and Jacque start their trek up to the farmhouse. They manage to find multiple thorn bushes, tearing at their clothes. By the time they make it to the farmhouse, they’d much rather just keel over. Meegan makes her way to the front door, knocking politely and stepping back. The door is opened by a grumpy looking older gentleman wearing overalls and a straw hat.

“What?”

“Eh… Hello sir, my name is Meegan and my friends and I got stuck in a ditch about a mile up the road, and we were wondering if we could call someone; or if maybe you could help pull us out?” Meegan ignored Jacque’s frantic whispers of her name.

“Meh; stupid kids, always getting into troub- Ethel, stop that!”

He marched past Meegan, who turned around to find Jacque getting attacked by a very large sow. The farmer pulls Ethel off of Jacque and Meegan helps her to her feet.

“Meh. Seems as how my girl Ethel attacked your friend, I’ll give you a tow. Hop in the truck.” He points to an ancient truck.

“Thank you Mister…”

“MacDonald. And just get in the truck.” He replied, eyes narrowing at Jacque who started giggling before Meegan elbowed her roughly.

Farmer MacDonald didn’t say a word while they drove and Meegan and Jacque didn’t even attempt conversation. When they got to Don, they were glad to be out. MacDonald grabs a towing cable and attaches the SUV to his truck, and starts the towing process.

“C’mon Betsy, you can do!”

Jacque whispers to Meegan. “He named his truck Betsy?”

“I’m not even going to question it. If he can get us out of here, I’ll name the SUV Betsy and Ethel…”

At long last, their SUV was free. Meegan thanked the Farmer again, and gave him their business card.

“If you’re ever in trouble.”

He nods suspiciously, driving off without a goodbye. Meegan turns on Jacque.

“Give me the keys. I’m driving us home.” Don seconds Meegan’s notion.

“But what about my driving lessons?”

“Honey, I will personally drive you to the moon if it means you do not get behind the wheel of another car.” Don gives her a serious look.

Jacque shrugs, giving Meegan the keys. She didn’t really care.

“All I want is a hot shower…” Meegan mutters as she gets back onto the main road.

“If the house is still there. You did leave Merry alone with the rookie and all the weapons.”

“Hawkins is there.” Meegan sounds so hopeful, but Jacque rolls her eyes.

“Merry. And Weapons. If we’re lucky, only the rookie will be dead; but we’ll still have a house.”

“If she touched any of my shoes, I will kill her. Meegan, drive faster!”

Meegan slams the gas pedal and they’re home in half the time it took them to get to the lake. They leap out of the car.

“Well, the house is still here.”

Jacque gingerly opens the garage door and they all head upstairs, to find the living room in shambles, Merry’s animals running around. Merry was using what was in the china cabinet for target practice. Desmond was tied to a chair. Don doesn’t even hesitate before rushing up to his room, but Meegan and Jacque stand there, aghast.

“MERRY! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“You’re home! I was just practicing my archery.”

“Why is Desmond tied to a chair?”

“He didn’t want me to let my animals out… but they wanted out, but he said if I let them out, he’d call you… so…” She pouts.

“You should’ve tried to shoot an apple off of his head.” Jacque grins evilly.

Merry looks up gleefully. “Can I?!”

“No, Merry, you may not. Untie Desmond and round up your animals. I’m going to take a shower, and then we’ll see about getting the rest of this cleaned up. I cannot believe Hawkins slept through all of this.” Meegan goes back downstairs, shaking her head.

Merry turns to Jacque. “How was driving?”

Jacque raises her eyebrows. “That’s classified, but let’s just says Meegan and Don aren’t planning on taking me out again.”

Merry shrugs, slicing Desmond’s bindings with the tip of her arrow.

“Did you even want to drive?”

“Hah, no, then they’d make me pay for gas.” Jacque smiled widely at Merry's huff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahah! Two chapters, maybe one or two more before tomorrow. Trying to get back on schedule... We said at some point to have them up before Thanksgiving...of last year, but still!


	12. A Girls Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meegan and Merry want Jacque to be one of the girls. Jacque is offended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by Meegan WAY back, but fits in here.

Jacque enters the kitchen to find Merry and Meegan arguing over what Merry should be allowed to feed her animals. “Merry, you fed your tigers all of the chicken I was going to use for dinner this week!” Meegan points to the empty meat drawer.

Merry turns, pouting. “But Meegan...! Th- th-they...” She burst into tears, falling to the floor, leaving Meegan standing there, hands on her hips.

“Merry, you know your tears have no effect on me.”

Jacque yawned, grabbing a box of cereal, stepping over Merry to get the milk. Meegan rolls her eyes, hopping onto the counter.

Desmond enters, looking confused. “Merry, what’s wrong?” The girl crawls over, attaching herself to his leg.

“Meegan’s yelling at me.” Desmond looks over at their leader who sighs, leaning against the wall.

“She fed all our chicken to her tigers, and has been trying to gain pity through tears, which I will not grant.” Desmond looked back at Merry.

“Meegan’s righ...” Merry gives him puppy eyes. “Gah! Meegan, she’s using the eyes! Her Disney Princess eyes! Just stop yelling at her!”

“I will not! I wasn’t even yelling. I was sternly reprimanding her for her lack of consideration for the team, because now I have to go pick up more meat, unless we want to go vegetarian this week.”

“Not happening.” Jacque said, her mouth full of cereal. Meegan waves her hand at Jacque as reason.

“See? So that’s why I told her that the meat was coming out of her paycheck.” Meegan hops off the counter, grabbing the keys. “C’mon, Merry. We have to go to the store before my checkers tournament with Hawkins.”

“...No.”

“Merry...”

“...No.”

“If you do not get off the floor and into the car by the count of five, I will talk to the Boss about your animal privileges.” And the girl is off the floor and out the door, headed to the car. Meegan shrugs, following. “Be good, you two.” and with that, she was gone.

“Buy me candy!” Jacque shouted after her, slurping some of the milk in her bowl before making a sour face. Then, she shrugged, tossing the bowl of milk at Desmond. “Clean it up, loser.” She meanders out of the room, leaving the dripping boy standing in the kitchen.

____________________

“... And that’s why sporks and spoons cannot be put in the same drawer. But it’s socially acceptable to put sporks and forks in the same drawer.”

“Meegan?”

“Yeah?”

“Why is Jacque on the roof with Don?”

“They’re what?! Oh geez... this is why we need a girls night out. It’s time for us to bond, and maybe reveal reasoning behind Jacque’s, uh, methods.”

Meegan pulled the vehicle into the driveway just in time to see Jacque and Don drop water balloons into Desmond’s head while he did yard work. “What was that even in that?” Desmond said, gasping.

“Water.”

“Urine.” Don and Jacque looked at each other confusedly.

“I thought you filled them with water.” Don said.

“I didn’t even fill them!” They exchanged incredulous glances before shrugging.

“Oh my GOD.” Desmond ran into the house shrieking. “My eyes burn!” The rest of the team stared after him, before Meegan sighed.

“I don’t even want to know. I’m going to put away the meat, and I expect everyone to be in the living room in 15 minutes.” She walked away, muttering to her fork.

_____________

“Okay team. Merry and I decided that we need a chance to bond. So tonight will be girls night out. Don, Hawkins, and Desmond will stay home and do ‘manly’ things while Merry, Jacque, and I go out and have ‘Girl Time’.”

“I don’t wannnnnaaaaaa!” Jacque groaned from the couch.

Meegan gives her a look. “Your, and Merry’s actions today have made me realize that we just need to bond a little more. It may build more trust within the team, especially if we do it in smaller groups of more similar people. That’s why we’re doing it by sex.”  Don looks up, intrigued, “Gender.” He huffs and looks down again.

“I can be manly! Grrrr!” Jacque stands, shoving Desmond out of his seat. “See? Manly.” Meegan gives her an unamused expression.

“Too bad. You’re coming with Merry and I. Just give us a chance, it’ll be fun.”

“What are Don and I supposed to do while you’re gone?”

“Bond! And you totally forgot about Hawkins. You'll hurt his feelings.”

__________________

Meegan has pulled out of the driveway, Merry in the backseat, still sulking over that morning's events. Jacque is sitting shotgun, looking out the window.

“You know, Don is probably going to just get in his car and leave.”

“He can’t. I took his car keys. and put the house on lockdown.” Meegan smiles faintly, a far off look in her eye.

“You did what? What if there’s an emergency and they need to get out?!” Merry perks up, leaning toward the front.

“Hawkins will take care of it.”

Jacque chuckles at the thought of the house on fire, leaning back in her seat. “Where are we going anyway?”

Meegan grins cheerily. “The mall! Food, fashion, and fun!” Merry squeals happily from the back seat, while Jacque groans. “Oh cheer up, Jacque, it could be worse. At least the mall has food. We could’ve picked that new makeup store that opened up by the bowling alley.” Meegan said as she pulled the car into the mall parking lot, and dragging Jacque out as Merry gleefully skipped ahead of them.

Soon, Merry and Meegan were head high in clothing piles while Jacque sat on the bench where most of the men waited for their girlfriends. Jacque hated shopping with every fiber of her being, choosing to pout instead.

“C’mon, Jacque. Merry and I picked a few things we want you to try on!”

“NO!” Merry appeared at her side, attaching a leash to her wrist and shoved her into a dressing room where a pile of clothing awaited her.

“Have fun!” Merry and Meegan spoke unanimously, shutting the door on Jacque.

Jacque looked at the pile and groaned, picking up the first thing in the stack. It was a pink top that had rhinestone hearts around the neckline, and white lace sleeves. “That’s a definite no.” she muttered, tossing it to the side. She worked her way through the pile. “No... no... no... maybe... no... Never.... not even sure this is clothing... gross... maybe... no.” She opened the dressing room door to find Meegan and Merry waiting expectantly on the other side. “Well?” Jacque, knowing this was a fight she was going to lose, handed Meegan the two maybe’s, and chucked the others onto a rack.

Meegan went to the register to pay for the items that all the girls had amassed, while Merry giggled happily, going through the bucket of accessories near the register. The cashier scanned their items lazily before spotting Jacque in the background. “Dude, you can’t set that on fire!” Jacque turns back him and the cashiers eyes went wider. “Huh. Not a dude.” Meegan handed over the cash, and Merry grabbed the bags. Meegan hooked her arm around Jacque, dragging her out, as the cashier watches them leave.

“I’m so proud of you, Jacque, you actually behaved yourself. Now it’s time for a treat. We’ll get ice cream!”

Jacque thrust her hand in the air, “Hell Yeah!” They made their way to the ice cream stand, where Jacque ordered a large scoop of mint chocolate chip, while Meegan got a cone of cinnamon, and Merry got lime. “That’s gross.” Jacque spoke, looking at Merry’s scoop. Merry pulled the ice cream defensively closer to her.

“It is NOT!”

“Settle down, you two. We all have our likes and dislikes and Merry enjoys lime.” Meegan spoke diplomatically, putting her arms between the bickering girls.  “Now what else would you  two want to do?”

“Arcade.” Jacque threw out, pointing at the store with her spoon.  Merry shrugged, and Meegan nodded.

“Alright, finish up, and we can play a few games..”

Jacque shoveled the rest of the ice cream into her mouth, making a beeline for the store, Merry and Meegan right behind her. Soon, Jacque and Meegan were versing each other in a game of air hockey while Merry played a shooting game. Merry had drawn a large crowd of boys watching as she hit every target spot on.

“And game!” Meegan shouted, hitting the puck into Jacque’s goal.

The other girl stuck out her tongue and folded her arms while Meegan fist pumped., but the celebration didn’t last long, as her phone rang. Meegan picked up, and Jacque watched at her face slowly drained of color.

“Jacque, go get Merry, we need to get home. That was Hawkins.”

The look on Meegan’s face kept Jacque from arguing, and in record time, the girls  found themselves barrelling down the road toward the house. Green gas oozed out of the windows and doors and Desmond and Don were being checked out by paramedics, while hazmat officials went in and out.

“Oh. My. God.”

"Awesome. Merry, that's what that does when it counts down." Jacque high fived Merry while Meegan face palmed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A girls night is one of our initial fillers, written back in 2012. A lot of our chapters AREN'T in the correct order of us writing them, but rather filled in when appropriate. There are few that I've (Jacque) have touched up, like converting some of our older stories into a more appropriate style, a lot of formating takes place. I rewrite a few lines that don't make a lot of sense, some of them were short stories that take place in a different location, but we've centralized a lot of the places. Especially the house. The main house for Team 109 is a specialty house designed by Merry. It's quite interesting, I might put the house in pictures back in the tour chapter if you're interested...  
> \----  
> Hi! This was edited back when, but I've officially updated all chapters as of 2015! Go back and read those if you're one of the few people who read way back in 2013. We'll start writing and posting more now!


	13. Concert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flirting with the Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! Check the end notes for the full story on our year hiatus!

(Setting: Night, some time late Oct to Early November.)

Meegan banged on Jacque's door happily. “Put pants on, Jacque, we’re leaving in 10!”

The door opened to a bleary eyed Jacque, pajama pants on and baggy tee half on, Meegan ignoring the faint scars on her stomach. “Whyyyyyyyyyyy?”

Meegan blinked at her for a moment. “Concert, remember? Desmond has a concert tonight and we promised we would go.”

Jacque made a disdainful face. “I. Don’t. Wanna.”

“C’mon, Jacque. They’re having a special guest performance by Sumford and Muns… I know you like that one song by them. Don’tcha wanna hear them perform it live?”

Jacque wiggled in displeasure, but pulled the shirt she was wearing on the rest of the way, and turned back toward her room to grab an actual pair of pants.

Meegan also turned away toward the stairs, calling back,”Be in the car in 20.”

She had already peeked in on Merry, who was trying to find a pair of shoes that matched her tutu, and Don was already waiting in the car, actually excited, although Meegan was pretty sure she’d seen him slip a couple of eggs from the kitchen and figured she’d have to intercept before he and Jacque did anything too out of hand. She too was already ready, and had been for a while because, admittedly, she was a bit of a fangirl when it came to certain bands. They had to preorder tickets and seats, and she’d gotten first row, in the middle. Sure, it was a big night for Desmond, but… Sumford, hellz yeah.

_____________________________________________________________________

The high school had won a contest, and the top 3 performers in the school were allowed to perform at the concert, one from band, one from Orchestra, and one from choir. Desmond had managed to get the top band spot. The students got solo’s first, and then Sumford and Muns would come out, and then the very last piece would be played by the three students and the band. Meegan was directly in front of the stage with Hawkins, Merry, Don, and Jacque to the right of her. To her left was a younger looking dude, also wearing a Sumford and Muns shirt. He looked over at her and grinned.

“Excited?”

Meegan grinned back at the dude. “You have no idea. This is my favorite band.”

“Dude, no way. It’s my favorite band as well.” He reached out his hand toward her. “I’m Keith.”

She took his hand. “Meegan.”

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the lights went out briefly, and Desmond appeared on the stage, looking nervous but also excited. Meegan had successfully raided Don and Jacque's bags stealing all of the eggs they’d had and replaced them with plastic Easter eggs filled with confetti.

The song Desmond had selected to play on his trumpet was by another band Meegan really enjoyed, Thirty Two Pirates. She jammed happily, ignoring Hawkins teasing. The orchestra student and the choir students songs went by really fast, and before she knew it, Sumford was in the stage, and she and Keith were exchanging excited looks. They spent the rest of the concert singing at each other, and even at one point taking a selfie together in front of the stage.

“I’ll add you on Facebook so I can tag you!” Meegan grinned over at the man, and he nodded, writing his full name on her arm so she could add him.

The two parted ways as the concert ended, and the rest of the team shot her a look, which she pointedly ignored. “Ready to go, guys?”

Jacque rolled her eyes. “I dunno, are you done flirting?”

Meegan looked at the other girl confusedly. “I definitely was not flirting. I was just discussing the mutual admiration Keith and I have for a really good band.”

Don sighed, shaking his head at her. “Mm. Girl, please, you were flirting.”

Meegan chose to ignore them for the moment, knowing there was no point in arguing. “Whatever. We have a meeting with the Boss in the morning and I don’t have time to argue with you all.”

________________________________________________________________________

The Boss stood in front of a projector, a pointer in her hand.

“Today, we discuss the enemy. He is the leader of POPTARTS, and will stop at nothing to destroy us. He owns many businesses, and…”

Meegan was tuning the Boss out. She’d just felt her leg buzz, and she unlocked it to find that Keith Remmy had accepted her friend request. She opened the picture to tag him, glancing up quickly at the slide the Boss had changed to and froze.

“This, my friends, is the enemy. Do not be fooled by the ruggedly good looking face. Keith Remington III is not a man to be trifled with. Hotness beside, he is dangerous.” The Boss coughed slightly at her comment, her face turning slightly red from what they could see from her high collared jacket and sun glasses.

Meegan held the picture on her phone up next to the picture on the slide. “Well crap.”

The two men were in fact one and the same. She looked out at her team to find Jacque laughing her ass off while Don grinned beside her, Merry not quite catching on, and Desmond looking at everyone confusedly.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, is Jacque here, and we know we took forever on a not-so-long chapter but there's a reason! We went to college, and things got really hectic between work, school, sleep, and being really far away! This was a really hard chapter actually, because this sets up the who next section of the story. We have a LOT of action pack chapters coming up soon, and those are all written, don't worry. The issue now is just keeping a schedule. While I can't promise a set time, we do have a lot things we're gonna post, even a weekly thing (maybe) about the people behind the comic (the authors Meegan, Merry, and Jacque) that'll be less fantasy and more about us. Writing is hard, but we love it, so we need something to get those creative juices flowing. 
> 
> So basically, stay tuned, we're here, we have the most awesome stories lines coming up and even some LOVE STORIES!!!! Just give a bit to get back into the flow.


End file.
